Eskom calms fears of prepaid meter ‘catastrophe’

October 19, 2023 Siyabonga Mtangana

If you have one of the 6.8 million prepaid electricity meters that need to be recoded before 24 November 2024, you have nothing to fear, according to Eskom.

The state-owned electricity utility said this at a panel discussion on Thursday to outline what has been done so far in the “Key Revision Number” programme, which is introducing a new series of electricity vending codes for all prepaid meters in South Africa. There have been fears of a large portion of the population being left without electricity when the deadline arrives.

The changes must be done to ensure that the meter’s key change code does not become redundant, as the lifespan of the current vending codes will expire on that date as they only had a limited lifespan.

Prepaid customers need to ensure their meters are upgraded so they can continue to buy electricity.

The recoding of prepaid meters must be undertaken for all Eskom prepaid customers, as well as South African municipalities and customers using STS-type prepaid meters.

In other words, no matter who supplies your electricity, the software of all prepaid meters in South Africa must be recoded, as prepaid meters that use STS technology will stop accepting new credit tokens once the vending codes expire.

Each credit token has a unique token identifier (TID) encoded in its 20-digit code to prevent tokens being re-used. The TID is referenced to a base date of 1993 and will run out of range in 2024 (known as the TID rollover event), thus causing the prepayment meter to stop accepting new tokens.

DIY option

Eskom has decided to adopt a “do-it-yourself” option for conversion, and once an area has been selected for conversion, customers will be notified that it is “live”. Then it is a case of following the instructions on the website to effect the change.

Unfortunately, banks and other online vending services are not yet able to issue the recode change tokens, but they are working on updating their systems to supply them in future. In the interim, Eskom advises customers to buy from their local prepaid vending agents when they need their recode tokens.

Read: How smart meters could help end load shedding

Eskom hopes to conclude the switchover well before next November’s deadline and says there are support channels to assist those customers who are finding the process difficult.

The utility only said there will updates on its website as to which areas are scheduled to become active next, and people should keep consulting the website for that information.

“Various sections of Eskom’s customer base will become active at different timeslots/periods to allow Eskom to assist customers if needed. Please keep a close eye on communications from Eskom and your local media to find out when your area is ready for you to do your recoding,” it said.