Livable vs Smarty Utility Management

Livable automates utility billing, Ratio Utility Billing System calculations, and cost recovery for property owners and management teams. Its AI-assisted workflow can acquire utility bills and extract their data. Allocation methods include occupancy, square footage, sub-metered usage, actual consumption, fixed percentages, per-unit calculations, and custom weighting. Managers can review allocations, approve billing batches, and monitor utility activity across a portfolio. Residents use Tenant Connect to view statements, review property bills, and pay online. Direct payments support ACH, debit cards, credit cards, and Auto-Pay. Self Service provides allocation and approval tools; Bill Automation adds automatic bill entry, multilingual support, spike alerts, and adjustment management. Livable syncs charges into AppFolio and describes AI-assisted workflows where no native connection exists. It has no unit minimums, supports web access, and does not sell or install sub-meter hardware.

Smarty Utility Management is Punch’s sub-metering and utility management service for multi-unit properties. It covers prepaid and smart electricity, water, and gas metering, alongside automated billing, vending, collections, and arrears recovery. Punch meters are installed as secondary meters, leaving municipal meters untouched and the supply live. Property teams can use NERSA-aligned time-of-use, block, seasonal, fixed, and demand tariffs, as well as Free Basic Electricity support. Billing options include flat, usage-based, tiered or block, time-of-use, demand, reactive-energy, percentage-based, and fixed-fee methods. The STS vending dashboard supports multiple payment channels and automated token receipts. Monitoring includes real-time consumption data, remote connection and disconnection, tamper, bypass, and leak alerts, plus tariff switching among grid, solar, and generator sources. Residents can use an installable Progressive Web App to check balances and purchase history and make vending purchases. The service also offers single and bulk SMS, audit trails, and lookup. Pricing is on request; listed plans are Rent-to-Own (36 months), Monthly Rental (Evergreen), and Upfront Purchase.