A utility meter on the property (electricity or water), with its number, its group and the board it sits on.
When to use it
When a meter is installed or replaced, before anyone can be billed for what it measures.
Before you start
Nothing else has to exist first. Record the meter here, then attach it to a customer on Meter Assignment. A meter on its own bills nobody.
Where to find it
Masters > Rental > Meter.
The fields on this screen
| Section | Field (on screen) | What to enter | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| Details | Code | Your own reference for this meter. Pickers show the Meter Name, not this code. | No |
| Details | Meter Name | Name of this meter. It is what you choose from when you assign the meter to a tenant. | No |
| Details | Meter Type | What this meter measures. Pick Electricity or Water. | No |
| Details | Group | (not explained yet) | No |
| Details | DB Number | (not explained yet) | No |
| Details | Active | (not explained yet) | No |
| Readings | Start Reading | (not explained yet) | No |
| Readings | End Reading | (not explained yet) | No |
How it works
A meter posts nothing and prices nothing by itself. It comes into use when Meter Assignment attaches it to a customer. From then on, each month's dial values are recorded on Meter Reading. The monthly bill uses the units from that reading to price any charge billed per unit. A meter that was never assigned is never read and never billed.
Meter Type decides what the meter measures: Electricity or Water.
Tips and common mistakes
- Start Reading and End Reading on this screen are not used for billing. They came across from the older system. The readings that count are the ones entered on Meter Reading each month.
- To retire a meter, untick Active instead of deleting it, so its past readings still make sense. If you delete a meter that still has a live Meter Assignment, the delete succeeds with no warning. That assignment then cannot even have its Removed Date set until you point it at a different meter.
- A customer with two meters is billed for both added together, so do not record one meter twice under different names.