One MONTH until prepaid meters in South Africa go dark
The local government’s inability to update prepaid meters in South Africa will reach a critical point in one month. Here’s who to contact for assistance…
Today (Thursday, 24 October 2024) marks one month until prepaid meters in South Africa will be shut off. According to reports, millions of prepaid meters in South Africa are still to be updated, despite numerous warnings to local governments. Similar to concerns over Y2K at the turn of the century, if prepaid meters in South Africa are not updated with the correct software, they will cease to function as of Sunday 24 November 2024, reports Business Tech.
Earlier this year, The South African reported that municipalities have known about the lights-out warning for two years already. Prepaid electricity meters require a special code from the municipality where they’re based to be updated. Either the user, or a local representative, must punch this code in, just like you would any other electricity voucher.
PREPAID METERS IN SOUTH AFRICA
Eskom and municipalities say they’ve been rolling out the update process as best the can, but time is running out. Moreover, the Minister of Trade and Industry Parks Tau believes failing to update the system won’t just inconvenience those who don’t … He believes failure on a large enough scale could potentially risk a ‘full system shutdown’, reports The Citizen.
As a reminder, the sequence of token identity (TID) numbers for prepaid meters in South Africa only have a certain lifespan. And this runs out on Sunday 24 November 2024, or 24/11/24. Prepaid meters therefore need a ‘reset’ code, which must be entered into it. The first two of three are 20-digit Key Revision Numbers (KRNs). After you’ve inputted these, simply follow-up with your electricity token. Entering these tokens in the exact sequence printed on the receipt takes less than two minutes to complete.
HOW FAR ALONG IS THE PROCESS?
Unsurprisingly, the DA-run Western Cape is streaks ahead of the rest of the country to stave off lights out for prepaid meters in South Africa:
- Currently the Western Cape sits at 96% updated.
- The national average is 75%.
- There are roughly 12-million prepaid meters in South Africa.
- Of the 6.9-million STS-complaint prepaid meters run by Eskom, 4 million have been updated with the new software.
- The leaves 2.9 million Eskom customers still to switch over.
- 4.6 million are managed by municipal customers.
Eskom urges customers to upgrade their prepaid meters in South Africa urgently. If you need assistance you can call 0860 037 566.