{"id":796759,"date":"2024-10-23T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=796759"},"modified":"2024-10-23T14:28:10","modified_gmt":"2024-10-23T12:28:10","slug":"prepaid-electricity-deadline-for-south-africa-is-almost-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/796759\/prepaid-electricity-deadline-for-south-africa-is-almost-here\/","title":{"rendered":"Prepaid electricity deadline for South Africa is almost here"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An important deadline is approaching for prepaid electricity meters in South Africa, and if they are not recoded in time \u2013 thousands of South Africans could be left without power. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eskom is urging all prepaid electricity users to update their meters by no later than 24 November, as required by the Standard Transfer Specification Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter this deadline, meters will no longer accept electricity tokens unless they are updated to Key Revision Number (KRN) 2,\u201d the power utility said<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No extensions will be granted, so both households and businesses are strongly encouraged to address this as soon as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eskom spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena, explained the importance of meeting this deadline to SABC News<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She urged Eskom\u2019s 6.9 million prepaid customers to recode their meters, saying that once any credit that is in their meter gets exhausted, \u201cthey will remain without electricity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Eskom is trying to avoid a situation where people are left without power, that is bound to happen if people do not comply with the deadline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have, as Eskom, made the electricity available for our customers,\u201d she commented in light of the more than 200 consecutive days without load-shedding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd we really urge them to actually make sure that they keep their lights on because at this moment, it’s up to them to ensure that they upgrade their meter so that their electricity keeps on flowing as normal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs it stands now, from Eskom\u2019s side, about 97% of our meters are ready and waiting for these customers to go and buy from legal or authorised vending stations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Customers buying online via banking apps can continue doing so. After recharging or purchasing tokens, they\u2019ll receive two 20-digit codes, which they just need to upload to their meter for it to be updated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While 97% of recoded meters is promising, the remaining 3% \u2014 which represents at least 207,000 customers \u2014 are still at risk of losing power after the deadline if their meters aren\u2019t updated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An end to load-shedding \u2013 with a catch <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mokwena explained that last Saturday marked the first time in five years Eskom has achieved over 205 days without load-shedding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This success comes from the utility\u2019s Generation Recovery Plan, which was launched in March 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plan addressed issues with staff, plants, and processes, and was tested by external bodies to ensure it would work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eskom has also been strategic with diesel usage, mainly during peak hours (5-10 PM), which helped the company save around R12 billion compared to last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She stressed that they are only using diesel \u201cwhen we have to meet the high demand during peak hours.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, Eskom was spending three times as much on diesel usage, reaching R18 billion by this time a year ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis year, we’ve only spent about R6 billion worth of diesel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are minimally and strategically using diesel when it is required, and this is during peak hours when people are coming from work and using electricity more than usual.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut this doesn’t happen on a daily basis, it’s only when it is needed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While South African consumers and businesses are happy about the load-shedding respite, this excitement is dampened by the fact that Eskom plans on increasing electricity prices by 36% in 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe needed to apply for this allowable revenue to enable us to be able to run our business \u2013 which is generating electricity, transmitting electricity, and distributing electricity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to supply reliable, efficient electricity to South Africa, Eskom needs this extra revenue, Mokwena stressed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need to remember that the government has been bailing us out, so we really need to come to a point where we migrate to a situation where we are not being bailed out by the government and we are sustainable financially.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Municipal debt to Eskom, which was about R90 billion at the end of September, is another reason why these added costs are being passed on to consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need to ensure that we work with these municipalities to ensure that they actually pay Eskom so that Eskom can run its business.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Read: Urgent Eskom prepaid electricity alert<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A crucial deadline is fast approaching for prepaid electricity meters in South Africa, which could leave thousands of customers without power.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":115,"featured_media":795886,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[1164,19924,19021,853],"class_list":["post-796759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-eskom","tag-load-shedding-2","tag-municipal-debt","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/115"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=796759"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":796879,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796759\/revisions\/796879"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=796759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=796759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=796759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}