Prepaid Electricity Meters for Rental Rooms: The Complete Guide

Prepaid electricity meters let each tenant pay for their own electricity before they use it, the same way they top up a phone. For landlords of rental rooms, hostels and co-living spaces, they solve two problems at once: unfair bill splitting and unpaid utility bills.

How prepaid meters work

1. Each room gets its own smart meter, installed in the room's distribution board or on a shared meter board.
2. Each meter has a balance in ringgit.
3. The tenant tops up the balance.
4. As electricity is used, the balance goes down at the rate per kWh you set.
5. When the balance reaches zero, the power cuts off automatically.
6. After the tenant tops up, you switch the power back on remotely from the platform. No site visit is needed.

What you need

• One smart meter per room. Single-phase meters suit individual rooms. Choose DIN-rail models for distribution boards or wall-mounted models for shared meter boards.
• A connection for each meter. Wi-Fi if the building has stable coverage at every board; 4G otherwise. See 4G vs Wi-Fi smart meters.
• A platform subscription to manage balances, rates and tenants.
• An electrician to install the meters, either the Splinergy team or your own contractor.

How tenants top up

You have two options, and you can mix them:

• Online top-up: tenants pay through the built-in payment gateway by card, FPX, DuitNow or e-wallets such as Touch 'n Go, GrabPay and ShopeePay. A 5% payment fee is deducted from each top-up, and the money goes to your bank account.
• Manual top-up: collect payment your own way, for example together with rent, and top up the tenant's balance yourself in the platform. No payment fee applies.

Setting your rate

You set the rate per kWh for each meter in the owner dashboard, so different rooms can have different rates if you need them. Write the rate into the tenancy agreement so tenants know what to expect from day one.

What tenants see

Each tenant can check their own balance and usage history, so they can see where their electricity goes, for example how much the air-cond adds overnight. Clear numbers mean fewer disputes.

Common questions

Does it replace the TNB meter? No. Prepaid meters are sub-meters behind your TNB meter. You still pay TNB for the building; the sub-meters measure and bill each room.

What happens between tenancies? Switch the room off remotely when a tenant moves out and back on when the next one arrives.

What if the internet goes down? 4G meters carry their own connection, which is why they're recommended for buildings without reliable Wi-Fi.

What it costs

With Splinergy:

• Meters from RM 130 one-time (Wi-Fi) or RM 200 (4G).
• Platform RM 10 per meter per month, on a 12-month contract paid upfront.
• 4G data plans from RM 35 per SIM per year.

Use the cost estimator on the hostels and room rentals page to price your property, or see full pricing.