Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa. (GCIS)
Prepaid electricity consumers must re-code their meters by the Sunday deadline, and no extension will be granted, Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said on Wednesday.
“[The technology has] got a time stamp and it is ending on 24 November 2024; we can’t extend it. It’s a technical issue and Eskom cannot be blamed for consumers who experience disruptions,” Ramokgopa told a media briefing on Wednesday.
“Come the 25th (November) there will be people lining up protesting and expressing their grievances. We are saying that they still have another four days to do this exercise,” Ramokgopa said on Wednesday.
The Mail & Guardian reported in September that any meters not upgraded by 8:15pm on 24 November will continue to disperse electricity until the credit is depleted, at which point they will stop working, leaving consumers in the dark.
Silas Mulaudzi, a sustainable energy specialist at the South African Local Government Association (Salga), said the technology, invented in 1993, had a lifespan of 31 years, which would run out this year
Eskom prepaid meters currently use KRN1 (Key Revision Number 1), a 20 digit token used to load electricity.
“We will stop dispensing the KRN1 electricity token, thus making the meters inactive. If a customer’s meter has not been upgraded to KRN2, which is a new generation now going into the future, they will be sitting in a situation where they just don’t have access to electricity,” Ramokgopa said.
He said after the cut-off date the out-of-date meters would have to be physically removed at a cost to be borne by the consumer.
South Africa has 11.4 million prepaid meters, out of which Eskom is responsible for updating 6.9 million while municipalities are responsible for 4.5 million.
Ramokgopa said Eskom had re-coded all its million meters, and the dashboard that the power utility maintains confirms this.
Salga’s dashboard shows that 3.7 million (93%) meters have been updated, while just under 300 000 still need to be re-coded.
“A significant number of people who are outside this number [already re-coded] are generally zero-buyers. This is someone who has a prepaid meter, has been consuming electricity but has never bought units from Eskom. Or in the past six to eight months the person has never bought electricity, meaning that there are ‘other means’ of them replenishing the meters,” Ramokgopa said.
“This is a coincidence but it helps us with revenue protection for Eskom and municipalities because those people will now be caught out.”
In its 2022-23 financial results, Eskom estimated that it had lost R5.6 billion to illegal connections, illegal vending and meter tampering.
“There can’t be a black market arrangement because this [re-coding] eliminates it. That arrangement is now exposed. Those who do not want to upgrade are mainly the zero-buyers, people we colloquially refer to as izinyoka,” Ramokgopa said on Wednesday.