Solving Branch Ops Nightmares: How to Recover Untracked Electricity Costs in South Africa

Theft and leakages, municipal overcharges and missed top-ups – untracked electricity costs are rife among SA corporates and facilities, here’s how national ops managers counter them.

Does head office really know what’s being spent on electricity at every branch?

For many South African corporates, the answer is “No”. Branch managers buy electricity on petty cash, company cards or through scattered local vendors, leaving Ops and Finance in the dark as to what’s really going where.

Slips get lost, spending goes unverified, and vague “fixed costs” from municipalities never make it back up the chain for proper scrutiny.

The result? Untracked electricity costs that spiral into budget overruns, blind spots and even fraud risk. Here’s how it plays out – and how leading corporates are regaining visibility and control.

Serious Overspending On Utilities Is Common in SA

It isn’t always fraud. Sometimes, it’s simply costs going unnoticed.

We recently worked with a large national retailer, whose ops team only realised after moving to Prepaid24 that two of their stores had been paying upwards of R5,000 in unexplained “fixed charges” every month.

Head office thought they were buying R7,000 of power for those sites, but, in reality, only R2,000 reached the meters. For years, staff at the branch level never escalated the discrepancy – they just bought more electricity, more often, without knowing why.

With Prepaid24 Business Services, these blind spots were picked up instantly. The head office could finally see the deductions, escalate them with the municipality and start fixing the leak. That’s the power of centralised visibility: Once untracked electricity costs that were invisible become measurable, they become actionable too.

The 3 Biggest Financial Operations Risks of Untracked Electricity Costs

When branches buy electricity individually, head office loses oversight. Managers use petty cash or cards, with no clear digital trail. Photos of slips are sent after the fact, if at all. That creates three serious risks for national ops teams:

1. Theft and Leakage

When branches rely on petty cash or cards for electricity, funds can easily be diverted without detection. With no central system verifying spend, it’s almost impossible for head office to confirm whether every Rand actually went toward electricity tokens.

2. Municipal Surprises

Some municipalities attach vague “arrears” or fixed costs to business tariffs (often by mistake). These deductions can easily run into thousands of Rands per month and usually go unnoticed when branches purchase on their own. Without central oversight, those hidden costs never get flagged or escalated.

3. Missed Recharges

When dozens or even hundreds of branches manage their own top-ups, mistakes are inevitable. One overlooked purchase can shut down a site, leaving ATMs offline or offices without power. The financial and reputational fallout is immediate.

For national operations, these risks add up to a nightmare: Downtime, uncontrolled spend and no audit readiness.

Fortunately, we at Prepaid24 specialise in helping national teams tackle these risks head-on.

Visibility That Leads to Real Savings

As another example, one student accommodation company used to overspend on electricity due to irregular top-ups and poor purchase planning. With Prepaid24, they introduced weekly meter readings and custom reporting, allowing them to move to a strict 10-day purchase schedule.

The result: They buy the right amount of electricity, avoid overpayment and have full clarity for both building managers and head office. That’s how visibility translates directly into savings and smoother operations.

Also see how one SA bank reduces branch downtime.

Best Practices for National Ops Managers

From our experience working with South Africa’s largest corporates, here’s what works best:

1. Review the first three months closely: Track every purchase through the dashboard and flag any deductions that reduce the actual value reaching meters. Also clearly inspect Prepaid24’s detailed slips (which most online providers don’t share with you).
   
   
2. Strengthen branch communication: Accuracy at the branch level feeds planning at the head office. Make reporting non-negotiable to avoid overspending at all costs – especially with SA’s steep step tariff structures.

With these foundations in place, national operations teams can cut waste, stay compliant and build trust across the business.

Get Full Visibility on Branch Spend

Still letting branches buy electricity ad hoc with petty cash or cards? You’re one vague “fixed charge” away from thousands in untracked losses, or one missed top-up away from a costly outage.

Book a quick demo with Prepaid24 today.

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