Cape Town - As the deadline looms for pre-paid meters to be upgraded, energy experts together with Eskom warns consumers and businesses may be digging deeper into their pockets to replace the device.
This week Eskom called on customers to recode their pre-paid metres before the deadline on November 24 2024 and that they could pay up to R12000 to replace the device.
Eskom said 6.9 million pre-paid metres are ready to enable the process.
Eskom’s Group Executive for Distribution, Monde Bala, urged residents to make sure their devices were upgraded to avoid coughing up money to replace it or lose money they had used to purchase electricity.
He explained criminal activity linked to the meter boxes could showcase a reading of KRN1.
The call has been made nationwide for consumers to make sure their metres boxes were upgraded showcasing the reading of KRN 2.
"Customers with meters still on KRN1 have likely not purchased electricity for more than six months or might be using unauthorised tokens bought from criminal syndicates,” he said.
“To prevent the metre from becoming inoperable, losing power, and incurring replacement costs, it is critical that all customers, including those who have not purchased electricity in the last six months or more, buy electricity tokens from authorised vendors by 24 November 2024.
“This will provide them with two sets of 20-digit codes needed to recode and update their meters.
“We started our public awareness campaigns back in August 2023 and we continue to ask users to come forward so we can offer all the help we have available.”
Eskom said they continued to urge pre-paid consumers to update their meters immediately to avoid an unexpected loss of electricity or having to work out more than thousands of rands to replace the device.
“Metres still using KRN1 (Key Revision Number 1) will no longer accept electricity tokens, after Sunday, 24 November 2024. This means that once your current credit is depleted, you will lose power, and the metre will become inoperable, necessitating a meter replacement that could cost up to R12,000, which the customer will have to pay,” Bala explained.
Lungile Mashele, Energy Economist, an award-winning energy professional, and banker said the concern could arise if people used so-called counterfeit vouchers or devices and that replacing the meter box could fall on the pocket of the consumer or being left in the dark.
“The recoding process has primarily been seamless, with contractors upgrading meters,” she said.
“This process has been ongoing for a few months and has been widely communicated.
“There must, however, be an acknowledgement that communication, especially for lower LSM (living standard measures), leading up to this deadline has been limited in conjunction with general literacy problems.
“Over the last few months, aided by media reports, there has been increased messaging.
“The upgrade itself is simple but may need a basic level of cellphone literacy.
“The challenge now is two-fold: many customers who have illegal metres or buy fake vouchers will not be able to upgrade.
“They will be flagged and be required to buy a new meter. Also customers who do not recode by the deadline of 24 November will need to replace their metre at a cost borne by the customer.
“There is also general apathy among people waiting for the last minute, which is behind the queues we see in some areas.
“The impact of not recoding is: Units purchased will be lost and the customer will lose money
“The customer will have to replace the metre at their own cost which is expensive
‘The customer will not have electricity and this will affect lighting, water, businesses and cooking etc. It also won't be an easy fix so they might be impacted for a few days.”
Natasha Gertse, founder of # Electricity Tariffs Must Fall said the loss would be felt by consumers: “If you do switch off, you will need to fork out R12000, where will the poorest of the poor find these funds?
“Many people will be sitting with this problem, wondering whether they will be sitting in the dark.
“We are sure there are many who are still not updated and it will be a state of devastation.
“How will they make food or run their businesses?
“This is a service that we are paying for.”
The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) said they continued to monitor the upgrading process.
SALGA Energy Specialist, Dr Silas Mulaudzi, explained: “Many of these meters are likely to be non-vending meters.
“Municipalities are currently conducting audits to identify and disconnect by-passed metres.
“These metres are dealt with through revenue protection programmes, not the TID (Token Identifier) roll over process, and are removed from our dashboard as they are resolved.”
The City of Cape Town confirmed, City customers will not be impacted by the update: “City prepaid electricity metre updates have been completed way ahead of deadline and its customers are not impacted by the end November deadline.
“Over the past three years that the City has been managing the update process, customers would have received their token update codes and have inserted those once-off codes with their purchase.
“Due to some inaccurate and confusing reporting on some news sites, many City customers are concerned that they will not be able to recharge their prepaid metres come the end of November 2024 and won’t have power supply. However, all of the approximately 570 000 City prepaid metres have been done.
Mayco member for Energy, Xanthea Limberg explained: “The programme and associated communication campaign ran for three years and it was all handled by internal teams.
“Due to the sheer volumes of metres in the Cape Town metro supply, the highest number of all other municipalities in the country, operational teams could provide back-up assistance, but customers needed to have the confidence to update their metres, and trust the City’s processes.”
* To simplify and make the recoding process accessible for all customers, Eskom has set up community support teams, including weekend assistance, and launched a comprehensive public awareness campaign in all official languages, providing guidance on using self-service tools like the Alfred Chatbot (https://alfred.eskom.co.za/chatroom/) available on Eskom’s social media platforms, newsletters, radio, and broadcast channels.
How to Check and Recode Your Metre
To verify if your metre is ready:
• Enter 1844 6744 0738 4377 2416 on your metre keypad.
• If it shows 1 or 1.2, your metre still needs to be recoded.
• If it shows 2 or 2.2, your metre is already updated and requires no further action.
To complete the recoding:
• Enter the first 20 digits of your recode token.
• Enter the second 20 digits of your recode token.
• Finally, enter the 20-digit token from your latest electricity purchase to recharge your meter.
City-supplied customers who are uncertain of their software update from KRN1 to KRN2 are able to check by simply entering the code 1844 6744 0738 4377 2416 on their prepaid metre’s keypad.
The screen will display one of two messages:
“1” means the update is required
“2” means the metre has already been updated
City customers have all completed the updates, no further action is required.
1. Token receipt – most receipts should indicate who supplies a customer’s electricity
2. Monthly account – if a customer receives an account from the City, they are a City-supplied customer. If their account is from Eskom, they are an Eskom-supplied customer.
3. If in doubt, check the load-shedding map for an idea of areas supplied by the City or Eskom, but note it is a high level view.
4. If in doubt, phone the City’s Call Centre on 0860 103 089 with the metre number.