Prepaid purchases question

Supine

Supine

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I have moved to Cape Town, so now pre-paid electricity is a thing. Now I am told that it is less cost effective to make one large purchase instead of multiple smaller purchases. This comes from some less-than-technical folks who can't explain why, but they insist they "heard it reliably".

In my head, I am simply buying kW/h units and it makes no difference. Am I wrong?
 
Russell S said:
I have moved to Cape Town, so now pre-paid electricity is a thing. Now I am told that it is less cost effective to make one large purchase instead of multiple smaller purchases. This comes from some less-than-technical folks who can't explain why, but they insist they "heard it reliably".

In my head, I am simply buying kW/h units and it makes no difference. Am I wrong?
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You are correct, it works on a scale the first few units are cheaper and so on. Once you hit a threshold it will cost the same. It stacks so it doesn't matter if you buy R50 now and R50 later it will still be R100 for the month.
 
It works in a cycle month
You can purchase as many times as you want or just once.
It all depends how much you buy for the month
 
I am still convinced prepaid is more expensive than postpaid.
 
Bliksis said:
I am still convinced prepaid is more expensive than postpaid.
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I dont pay line rental, but they include it in the tarriff of my pre paid.
So yeah it all depends on how much you are using
I use 200 units a month
 
Bliksis said:
I am still convinced prepaid is more expensive than postpaid.
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It depends on where you live and who is billing you. Postpaid in JHB has a nice 900 charge added just for the pleasure of using it, to break even with prepaid you need to have spent almost 3k
 
Lupus said:
You are correct, it works on a scale the first few units are cheaper and so on. Once you hit a threshold it will cost the same. It stacks so it doesn't matter if you buy R50 now and R50 later it will still be R100 for the month.
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Ok, so as an extreme example, will a R10 000 once off payment give me the same return as 20 R500 payments spread over a year?
 
Russell S said:
Ok, so as an extreme example, will a R10 000 once off payment give me the same return as 20 R500 payments spread over a year?
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No, because you will have crossed the threshold and end up paying a lot more for probably 8000 worth, it's better to see what your scale is and work within that. Normally it's something like 0 to 350 units for x amount, 351 to 500 units for x amount + 10% more, 500 upwards x amount +15% more and additional fees.
 
Lupus said:
No, because you will have crossed the threshold and end up paying a lot more for probably 8000 worth, it's better to see what your scale is and work within that. Normally it's something like 0 to 350 units for x amount, 351 to 500 units for x amount + 10% more, 500 upwards x amount +15% more and additional fees.
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Cool, thanks. Ok, I missed the part that usage scaling needs to be built into the system.
 
You must only buy what you need for the month
Dont buy more
You will go into a higher tier bracket
Wasting your money
So, only buy enough units for the month
As many times as you want
Just do not buy more than what you need
 
Pineapple Smurf said:
You must only buy what you need for the month
Dont buy more
You will go into a higher tier bracket
Wasting your money
So, only buy enough units for the month
As many times as you want
Just do not buy more than what you need
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Words to live, buy :-P
 
I am on tier 1 coz I buy less than 600 units
I buy 200
After 600 units for a month it goes to Tier 2 and you pay more than tier 1
Then there is tier 3
And i think there is a tier 4, cant remember
 
And keep to the rhythm of buying same time each month.
Work the system and see if you cannot accumulate some units each month for a buffer or if you rent you don't have to buy the last month or two and thus saving the line fees (if charged monthly and not build in). To bad for landlord/next tenant.
 
It's pathetic that you have to work the system like this.
 
Russell S said:
I have moved to Cape Town, so now pre-paid electricity is a thing. Now I am told that it is less cost effective to make one large purchase instead of multiple smaller purchases. This comes from some less-than-technical folks who can't explain why, but they insist they "heard it reliably".

In my head, I am simply buying kW/h units and it makes no difference. Am I wrong?
Click to expand...
You are 100% correct. The City of Cape Town has a page on their website addressing this myth.

 
A3@MBB said:
And keep to the rhythm of buying same time each month.
Work the system and see if you cannot accumulate some units each month for a buffer or if you rent you don't have to buy the last month or two and thus saving the line fees (if charged monthly and not build in). To bad for landlord/next tenant.
Click to expand...
Agree
Ive been doing this since Spetember 2017 when I went onto pre paid
I keep an excel spreadsheet each month of my electricity units

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