Prepaid meters, sub-meters and landlords: explaining utilities with video

Ask a Kenyan landlord about tenant complaints and electricity will come up quickly. In many older buildings, several units share one meter, and the bill is split by guesswork. Tenants feel overcharged, landlords feel unpaid, and caretakers are caught in the middle. Water often works the same way.

Prepaid sub-meters solve much of this: each unit buys its own tokens and uses what it pays for. But installing them means convincing landlords to invest and tenants to change habits. That is a communication job.

A campaign we know well

The launch ad on Tari Studio's home page was made for exactly this problem: Tari's Ondokea meter sharing campaign for prepaid meters, made with the Studio's AK1 model. It tells the story the way tenants and landlords live it: the frustration of a shared bill, then the relief of each unit having its own meter. Stories like that do more than a specification sheet.

Two audiences, two messages

For landlords, the questions are about money and effort:

• What does it cost to install, and how long does it take?
• How do I collect money, and what happens to the shared bill?
• Will it reduce disputes and vacancies?

For tenants, the questions are practical:

• How do I buy tokens? (Usually by M-Pesa.)
• What happens when they run out?
• How do I check my balance?

One clip per question, in the language each audience uses, answers them before the caretaker has to.

Making explainers quickly

With Tari Studio, type /script with the length and the question, and the AI director writes timed scenes with spoken lines and on-screen words. Check every step, price and number before you make the video; a wrong Paybill number in a utility video is worse than no video. Scripts are free. Scripts with /script.

Set the language of speech and on-screen words to Kiswahili, Kenyan English or the Kiswahili-English mix. Tenant explainers in clear Kiswahili reach far more people.

A friendly face helps

A recurring character, say a helpful caretaker or a cheerful technician, can guide viewers through the whole series. Add the character once with a description and pictures, and the Studio keeps them consistent. Keep your mascot the same in every ad.

Safety first

Electricity is dangerous. Any video about meters should show installation by qualified technicians, never encourage tenants to tamper with wiring, and avoid suggesting illegal connections. Follow the utility's and regulator's rules.

Where the videos go

Landlords: Facebook, LinkedIn and property-owner WhatsApp groups. Tenants: WhatsApp Status, building WhatsApp groups and a QR code on the meter box that opens the explainer.

Answer the hard questions too

The questions that cause the most stress are the ones nobody likes to film: What if I paid and the token did not arrive? What if the meter shows an error? Who do I call at night? A short clip for each, with the exact steps and the right customer-care number, saves tenants panic and saves landlords phone calls. Honest answers to hard questions build more trust than a cheerful advert.

Write your first meter explainer.