Prepaid electricity customers reminded to recode meters before Sunday deadline

Eskom is urging all prepaid electricity customers to update their meters immediately to avoid an unexpected loss of electricity.

There is now less than a week left until November 24, the deadline for meter renewals.

The electric utility has announced that after Sunday, November 24, meters currently using Switch Revision Number 1 will no longer accept electricity tokens, rendering the meter inoperable.

This may require a meter replacement, which could cost up to R12 000 at the customer’s expense.

Monde Bala, Distribution Group Manager of the energy company, explained how and why the meter should be updated.

“Customers who still have meters on KRN1 are likely to have not purchased electricity for more than six months or may be using unauthorized tokens purchased from criminal organisations.

To prevent the meter from becoming inoperative, 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, purchase electricity tokens from authorized dealers by November 24, 2024. .

“This will provide them with the two sets of 20-digit codes needed to recode and update their meters. We began our public awareness campaigns in August 2023 and continue to ask users to come forward so we can offer all the assistance we can,” Bala said.

How to check and recode your meter?

Use these steps to verify whether your meter is ready:

• Enter 1844 6744 0738 4377 2416 on your meter’s keypad.
• If it shows 1 or 1.2, your meter still needs to be recoded.
• If it shows 2 or 2.2, your meter has already been updated and you do not need to take any further action.

To complete re-encoding:

• Enter the first 20 digits of your recoding token.
• Enter the second 20 digits of your recoding token.
• Finally, enter the 20-digit token of your last electricity purchase to recharge your meter. – SAnews.gov.za