Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa May/ June 2020 | Page 22

MANAGING How to juggle a multitude of responsibilities The value of sub-metering in real estate W hether it’s modernising existing infrastructure, building richer customer relationships or streamlining admin, sub-metering solutions are increasingly recognised as powerful solutions in the real estate industry. Their blend of reliable technology with accessible digital tools and robust visibility has made them an invaluable resource. Using modern and relevant sub-metering solutions, real estate owners can improve how utilities are managed and controlled without impacting on tenant delight. “As the owner of any slice of real estate, you’re expected to juggle a multitude of responsibilities, perfectly,” says Michael Franze, Managing Director at Citiq Prepaid. “Mistakes can not only cost you time, but reputation and tenant happiness. One area that often gives real estate owners a headache because it always takes a lot more time than it should, is utilities. You have to ensure that bills are paid on time, that the lights stay on, and that invoices are sent out on time. You have to do all this while managing the vagaries of municipality billing and tenant payments. Sub-metering effectively solves all these problems in one.” Investing into a reliable sub-metering system that’s easy to use and install will immediately change the way you approach 20 MAY/JUNE 2020 SA Real Estate Investor Magazine and manage utilities. The tenants will take control of their usage and spend which not only reduces the risk of non- payment, but of them contesting charges. Instead of utility usage split across different users, tenants are only charged for what they use which makes a big difference. This means less time spent managing complex tenant non-payment cases, but also makes the way for far better relationship building. “Our sub-metering platform offers the real estate owner access to an online dashboard that provides them with instant insight into meters, reports and payments,” says Franze. “This offers you exceptional visibility into meter status and payments with reports that can be fine tuned to suit your specific requirements. This layer of transparency is extremely beneficial in terms of building tenant trust but it also assures of far more granular insight into utilities and potential problems.” Prepaid meters not only minimise admin and stress, but maximise efficiency, transparency and payments. With Citiq Prepaid, real estate owners gain access to an ecosystem of prepaid meters, services, support and online data that are designed to streamline processes and transform utility management. SOURCE Citiq Prepaid