Electric Meter Rates (also Water and Gas Meters) |
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Rates for meters are handled in a special way by Campground Master, once you have the appropriate fields set up for meter readings. The meter rates are used automatically when entering batch meter readings, or if you select a meter rate from Select Rates for a single site then it knows to ask for a reading. There are also some special parameters for meter readings so that you can handle things like tiered electricity rates or exclude a certain minimum amount that's included in their rent.
One key thing to know about meter rates is that when it's applying the rates automatically, it can apply either one or two rates. One must be a variable rate, which is multiplied by the number of units used. The other one, if present, must be a fixed rate that's not multiplied (for instance a base service charge). If more than these two rates are found that apply to a given reservation, or if no variable rate is found that applies, it will show an error message.
As with rental and add-on rates, you can use any of the "applies-only-to" qualifying fields to create separate rates for different seasons, different reservation or site types, and so forth. You would create multiple sets of rates to handle each situation as needed, just like for rental rates.
This first example is the simplest case -- a single per-kwH rate for electric use, with no special filtering:
1. Click Add rate definition.
2. Select "Electric Meter" in the Rate Type field.
3. Enter "Electric meter" in the Description field.
4. Click the Charge button.
5. Select (click on) "Electricity" from the drop-down category list (or whatever category you might have added for this).
6. Press the Tab key to change to the Description field, and change it if you want (e.g. "Metered electric"). Keep in mind that the current and previous readings will automatically be added to this description on their receipt, for instance "Metered electric (2500-2200)".
7. Press the Tab key twice to get to the Each field (no Qty is necessary).
8. Enter the amount per unit, not including taxes, for instance ".0623". Notice that you can include the fractional cents as added decimal places. It will show up to 4 places in the dialog, but the number will actually be stored and used for calculations exactly as you enter it.
9. Press the Tab key to accept the amount.
10. Check the boxes for one or more taxes under Auto-add tax, if they apply.
11. Notice that the box Ask for meter reading will be checked automatically, and some other entry fields will appear. In this simple case, leave these as they are. (As a simple variation, you could enter "100" in the Meter allowance field if the customer gets the first 100 units for free and should be charged for the remainder of his usage, if any.)
12. Click the Save button.
Now if you go into a reservation's transactions, click Select Rates, and select "Electric Meter" for the rate type, this rate will appear. If you click this rate and Add, a window will appear showing the previous meter reading and asking for the new reading. Simply enter the new reading and it will do the rest, including updating the last reading the in the Site Details.
Electric Meter - Base Charges
Sometimes a base service charge must be added every time the meter is read. This would be in addition to the per-unit charge, so you need to add a separate rate for it. So after adding the meter rate above, add another rate, let's say for a $4.50 service charge:
1. Click Add rate definition.
2. Select "Electric Meter" in the Rate Type field.
3. Enter "Electric meter service charge" in the Description field.
4. Click the Charge button.
5. Select (click on) "Electricity" from the drop-down category list (or whatever category you might have added for this).
6. Press the Tab key to change to the Description field, and change it if you want (e.g. "Meter reading charge").
7. Press the Tab key twice to get to the Each field (no Qty is necessary).
8. Enter the amount of the charge, not including taxes, for instance "4.5".
9. Press the Tab key to accept the amount.
10. Check the boxes for one or more taxes under Auto-add tax, if they apply.
11. Remove the check in the Ask for meter reading box. This must be removed to indicate that it's a base rate, not a per-unit rate. If you don't do this, you'll get an error because multiple per-unit rates exist. Two other fields will still be shown below this because it's a meter rate, but leave those blank in this case.
12. Click the Save button.
Now when you meter charges, this rate will be added in addition to the per-unit charges. This will happen each time you enter a meter reading, no matter what the actual usage is or how often you do it.
As an additional note, remember that you're not limited to one transaction in a rate definition. For instance if you need to indicate more than one base charge like a service fee and separate meter reading fee, you can't create two separate base rates so just add the two Charge transactions into the one base rate.
Electric Meter - Tiered Rates
This is where it can get a little complicated, primarily in figuring out the amounts to enter for the rate charges. Remember that only one per-unit and one base rate can apply for any set of conditions -- this is solved by using the extra fields for Applies if >= ... units and Applies if <= ... units, which were ignored in the simple examples above.
The general process is to create a pair of rates for each range of units that define a different electricity rate. (If there is no base charge then the lowest range will only need the per-unit rate, but that's the only exception.) So we need one per-unit rate and one base rate for each range, and set the applies-if parameters accordingly for each pair of rates so that only one pair applies for any given meter reading.
As an example, lets say the rate is $.06 for the first 200 units, $.07 for 201 to 400 units, and $.08 for any usage above 400. In addition, there's a service charge of $10.00 per month (presumably the same as per reading). The per-unit portion of the rates in each range is simple enough, but you need to figure out how much the fixed, or base, part should be for each range.
•For 200 and under, the base is just the $10.00 service charge.
•For 201 to 400, we need to add the total amount for the first 200 units of usage (because the per-unit rate will only calculate the $.07 per unit above 200 units). So $.06 x 200 = $12, plus the $10 service charge = $22.
•Likewise for 401 and above, we need the total amount for the first 400 units. This would be the $22 above (which includes the first 200 units), plus $.07 x 200 = $14 for the next 200 units (201 to 400), for a base charge of $36.
Now we're ready to create the rate definitions. Rather than go through each step for every rate, we'll just show a table below with the appropriate entries for each rate. Hopefully by now you know the basic mechanics of adding rates.
Rate 1: Base rate, up to 200 units
Each amount: $10.00 (service charge)
Ask for meter reading checkbox: NOT checked
Meter allowance field: (blank)
Applies if >= field: (blank)
Applies if <= field: 200
Rate 2: Per-unit rate, up to 200 units
Each amount: $.06
Ask for meter reading checkbox: CHECKED
Meter allowance field: (blank)
Applies if >= field: (blank)
Applies if <= field: 200
Rate 3: Base rate, 201 to 400 units
Each amount: $22.00 (service charge + 200 units)
Ask for meter reading checkbox: NOT checked
Meter allowance field: (blank, doesn't matter)
Applies if >= field: 201
Applies if <= field: 400
Rate 4: Per-unit rate, 201 to 400 units
Each amount: $.07
Ask for meter reading checkbox: CHECKED
Meter allowance field: 200
Applies if >= field: 201
Applies if <= field: 400
Rate 5: Base rate, 401 units and up
Each amount: $36.00 (service charge + 400 units)
Ask for meter reading checkbox: NOT checked
Meter allowance field: (blank, doesn't matter)
Applies if >= field: 401
Applies if <= field: (blank, no upper limit)
Rate 6: Per-unit rate, 401 units and up
Each amount: $.08
Ask for meter reading checkbox: CHECKED
Meter allowance field: 400
Applies if >= field: 401
Applies if <= field: (blank, no upper limit)
Notice that the Applies-if fields define the 3 pairs of rates. Make sure they are mutually exclusive to separate each pair -- for instance don't put 400 in rates 5 and 6, or else two sets of rates would apply to exactly 400 units.
Other examples:
Add-on for Extra Adults, Children, etc
Special Season or Holiday Rates