My Tenant Left Owing Utilities. Can I Recover the Money?
The honest answer, and how Botswana landlords make sure it never happens again.
It usually goes like this. The tenant falls a month behind on electricity or water. Then two. They promise to settle. Then one weekend the unit is empty, the keys are with the security guard, and the BPC or WUC bill — in your name — is still yours to pay.
If this has just happened to you, here is the honest position.
Can you get the money back?
Legally, an ex-tenant's unpaid utilities are a debt you can pursue — through demand letters, or the courts for larger amounts. In practice, most landlords who go down this road spend more in time and legal costs than the debt is worth, and many ex-tenants simply cannot be traced. The deposit helps if you hold one, but a deposit sized for one month rarely covers three months of arrears plus repairs.
Most landlords in Botswana quietly absorb the loss. Some raise the rent afterwards to compensate — which punishes the good tenants for the bad one.
Why this keeps happening
The problem is built into how the money flows. BPC and WUC bill you, the account holder, after the electricity and water have been used. You then try to collect from the tenant. For weeks every month, you are effectively lending your tenants money and hoping they pay it back.
Good tenants do. It only takes one who doesn't.
The fix: reverse the order of payment
A prepaid sub-meter sits behind your BPC or WUC meter, on each tenant's unit. The tenant buys a token from their phone — the same way most of Botswana already buys BPC electricity — and the unit has power or water for exactly what was paid. No token, no supply.
Notice what this changes legally as well as financially. A landlord cannot lawfully disconnect a tenant's supply to force payment — that route leads to disputes and potentially to court. But with prepaid, you never disconnect anyone. The meter simply doesn't dispense what hasn't been paid for. The tenant is always in control of their own supply. There is nothing to enforce, because there is no debt.
And when a tenant eventually moves out? They leave owing nothing, because owing was never possible.
What it costs
We publish our prices, which is unusual in this industry: P300 for an electricity meter, P850 for a water meter, plus installation. Under our Free Meter Programme, qualifying buildings get the meters themselves free — you cover only the installation.
Compare either number with one month of one tenant's unpaid utilities.
Already have meters from another provider?
We port competitor meters onto our system at no charge. If you have prepaid hardware installed but no longer have support for it, it can usually be brought back to life rather than replaced.
The first step is free
We assess your building at no cost and show you the actual numbers — what you're losing now, what metering would recover, and how quickly it pays for itself. No commitment.
FactorFast Metering has installed and managed prepaid meters for Botswana landlords since 2018 — over 5,000 meters across Gaborone and nationwide. Collections run on TswanaPay, built within Botswana's Bank of Botswana electronic-money framework. More landlord guides