ApexHi outsources management to Rural Maintenance

22 Feb 2006

ApexHi Properties Limited has outsourced the management of its R100-million per annum utilities bill to utilities management specialists, Rural Maintenance (Pty) Ltd.

ApexHi asset manager, Iain Nicol, says Rural will initially take over the utilities management of 89 buildings and will monitor utility usage and ultimately collect payment from some 3,944 tenants. “By outsourcing the utilities management aspect of the business, ApexHi and property managers Broll Property Group, will have more time to focus on the core business of leasing space,” he says.

Rural is part of the Resource Management Integration Group (Pty) Ltd (Remig) that has specialised in utility operations on the African continent since 1993 and currently has ongoing operations in South Africa, Namibia and Mozambique.

Rural director, Chris Bosch, says Rural has been contracted by ApexHi to provide a transparent service to landlords and tenants alike. “Our role is to identify the users of electricity and bill them accordingly,” he says.

Nicol says tenants and landlords will benefit from Rural’s services as they will now have access to their individual power usage profiles if they so request. “Access to these profiles will allow them to scrutinize, manage and reduce the total amount of units consumed. In addition, time-of-use and maximum demand can be checked on-line by users to further manage and reduce their costs,” he says.

Rural’s system includes on-line remote meters that enable users to check on local suppliers accounts and highlight problems such as faulty equipment and inaccurate council readings or tariffs.

Bosch says Rural operates in a heavily regulated industry where end user tariffs are set by the National Energy Regulator. “As such, our main focus is to make sure that those who use electricity are the ones who pay for it,” he says.

Bosch says the cost of electricity is set to rise radically in the near future due to the imminent generation shortages which threaten Southern Africa as a whole. “Landlords can no longer rely on estimations to calculate who uses what. It provides an inaccurate measure of the services and is not an equitable method of operating,” he says.

For further information please contact ApexHi Properties on:

Tel: +27 (0) 11 283 0150
Fax: +27 (0) 11 283 0160

E-mail: apexhi@ogilvypr.co.za
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