Get with the System or Stay in the Dark

(The Post News)- For years, many South Africans have made use of prepaid electricity because of its convenience. But for the past month, prepaid electricity users have experienced some stress concerning their meters.

For a little over a year, Eskom has started to warn people about the importance of updating their electricity meters. Why, you may ask? It’s simple: the time has run out for the meters. Each meter has an anti-fraud system built into them, which uses a token identifier (TID). Like any other timer, it starts on a specific date and time. In this case, the timers have been running since the 1st of January 1993.

“Customers with meters on KRN 1 have likely not purchased electricity for more than six months or might be using unauthorized tokens bought from criminal syndicates.” – Monde Bala, Group Executive for Distribution. Obtaining unauthorized tokens is unfortunately not a new development. This causes billions of rands in lost revenue every year.

The South African Local Government Association (Salga) stated that fraudulent or tampered meters are a more common problem in the metropolitan area. Some areas consist of up to 55% non-vending meters! As of Sunday, the 24th of November at 20:00, any meters that are not updated will stop working immediately.

If your meter is not up to date, be prepared to pay up to R 12 000 for a new one. All meters still operating on the KRN 1 system need to be upgraded to the KRN 2. Simply enter the code: 1844 6744 6738 4377 2416 on your meter. If it reads 1, it needs to be upgraded. If the number 2 is displayed, you can carry on without worry that your household will be affected by the change.

Follow these steps to upgrade your meter:

Purchase two key change tokens from any legal prepaid electricity vendor.
Enter the first recode token. After the first token is accepted, enter the second recode token.
After both tokens are accepted, your meter will be successfully upgraded.

Now you will be able to upload your electricity voucher without any trouble. It is not a lengthy process. Put five minutes aside and ensure that you are not left in the dark tomorrow.