Eskom’s final warning – that could cost customers R12,000
Power utility Eskom has issued an urgent final warning to all prepaid users in the country to recode their meters or lose functionality.
There are less than six days remaining until the 24 November 2024 deadline to do so.
Meters 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 meter will become inoperable, necessitating a meter replacement that could cost up to R12,000, which the customer will have to pay.
“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.
“To prevent the meter 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, to buy electricity tokens from authorised vendors by 24 November 2024,” Eskom said.
Doing so will provide customers with two sets of 20-digit codes needed to recode and update their meters.
Eskom has also 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 to help customers complete the process before deadline.
How to Check and Recode Your Meter
To verify if your meter is ready:
- Enter 1844 6744 0738 4377 2416 on your meter keypad.
- If it shows 1 or 1.2, your meter still needs to be recoded.
- If it shows 2 or 2.2, your meter 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
According to Eskom’s rollover dashboard, almost all meters have been pre-coded to handle the rollover process, but 2.2 million are still not yet transacting on the new system.
This has exposed a potentially huge problem in the country, as this may point to mass fraudulent activity or meter tampering.
According to the South African Local Government Association (Salga), about half of the prepaid electricity meters in certain metropolitan areas are suspected of being fraudulent or tampered with, a problem contributing to substantial financial losses for local governments.
During the TID rollover project, Salga discovered the larger issue of “non-vending” meters, which are prepaid meters that have not been vending electricity credits through approved channels.
According to Salga, the non-vending meters represent a substantial financial leakage, as many of these meters have been tampered with, contributing to the R8.6 billion in lost or foregone revenue that it identified.
Data collected by Salga indicates that several municipalities are particularly affected by the non-vending meter problem, including eThekwini, Nelson Mandela Bay, Tshwane and Maluti-a-Phofung.
It’s essential to note that a meter’s classification as non-vending does not automatically imply fraud; some meters may be faulty, or there may be data discrepancies within municipal records.
However, those meters that have been intentionally bypassed or tampered with also fall under the non-vending category, exacerbating revenue losses.
Additionally, Salga has yet to receive data from all municipalities, indicating that the number of non-vending meters—and the associated revenue loss—could be even greater than currently reported.
Read: Big changes for prepaid and solar users in South Africa in Eskom tariff overhaul
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