How it works

Meter. Reading. Tariff. Invoice.

Three things happen once, when you start. Three things happen every month after that, without anyone touching them.

  1. Walkthrough & site check

    Once

    We look at how your building is supplied: the number of units, where the tenant supplies are, whether there is a bulk or check meter, and how you bill today.

    • Unit list and supply layout
    • Your current tariff or the municipal rate you recover at
    • Common areas you want shared out

  2. Meters installed

    Once

    A smart energy meter goes on each tenant’s supply. The electrical work is done by a qualified electrician.

    • One meter per tenant supply
    • Optional bulk or check meter for common property
    • Commissioned and confirmed reporting before billing starts

  3. Onboarding

    Once

    Each meter is paired to Metriq and linked to its unit. Your tariff is set up, tenants are loaded with their contact details, and you choose your billing day.

    • Tariff plan: flat, time-of-use, block, with optional reactive charges
    • Fixed monthly charge and common-property share on or off, with per-tenant exceptions
    • Landlord and tenant logins created

  4. Readings, all month

    Continuous

    Meters push their readings to Metriq throughout the day, roughly every ten minutes. Every reading is stored with its timestamp, so the numbers on an invoice can always be traced back.

    • No site visits or manual reads
    • Tenants and landlords can see consumption as it builds
    • We are alerted if a data feed goes quiet

  5. Billing day

    Monthly

    On your billing day Metriq closes the period (one full month, in your property’s time zone) and prices each tenant’s consumption on their tariff plan.

    • Time-of-use split by the hour the energy was used
    • Block tariffs consumed tier by tier
    • Billing runs are idempotent: a re-run never double-bills

  6. Invoices out

    Monthly

    Each tenant is emailed an itemised PDF invoice, and the same invoice appears in their portal. You see every invoice across your properties in your own view.

    • Line items for energy, fixed charge and common-property share
    • The allocation basis is printed on the invoice
    • Download any past invoice at any time
Anatomy of an invoice

Every rand on the page has a reason.

Tenants dispute what they can’t follow. Metriq invoices show how each amount was worked out, so the conversation is about the numbers, not about trust.

  1. APeriod & readings. One full month ending the day before your billing day, with the meter readings it was measured between and a due date.
  2. BEnergy. Metered kWh priced on the tenant’s named tariff plan, whether a flat rate, time-of-use windows or block tiers, with the effective rate shown.
  3. CCommon property. The tenant’s share of common-area consumption, labelled with its basis: by floor area, or an equal split where floor areas aren’t recorded.
  4. DFixed charge. Your monthly connection or service charge, if you apply one. Commercial tariffs can add a reactive-energy line with the average power factor.
Questions

The practical bits.

Who decides the rate my tenants pay?

You do. Metriq applies the tariff you configure exactly as set. Metriq’s own fees are a monthly per-meter fee plus a percentage of the energy value billed; your quote sets them out (see Pricing).

What happens when the municipality changes its tariffs?

Tenants are billed on shared tariff plans. Update the plan once and every tenant assigned to it is priced on the new rates from the next billing run. Annual municipal tariff updates are part of the service.

Can I choose when invoices go out?

Yes. Pick any billing day from the 1st to the 28th. Each invoice covers one full month ending the day before it. If you change your billing day, the short gap in between is billed once so nothing is skipped or double-counted.

How is common-area electricity handled?

With a bulk or check meter in place, common-property consumption can be split between tenants in proportion to their floor area (or equally, if floor areas aren’t recorded). You can switch the common share (and any fixed charge) on or off for the building, and override it for individual tenancies.

What if a meter stops reporting?

Metriq monitors the incoming data feed and raises an alert when readings stop arriving, so problems are picked up and followed up rather than discovered on billing day.

Do tenants need to install anything?

No. Invoices arrive by email, and the tenant portal runs in any web browser on a phone or computer.

Next step

See your building on Metriq.

Tell us about your property: how many units, how they are supplied and how you bill today. We will show you how the first month would work.

Book a walkthrough Request a quote