Prepaid Electricity Meter

R

rinorobert

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Hi Guys,

I have a prepaid electricity meter in our apartment and I was wondering if I could do a few things with it.

  • Can I view the balance of the meter online, or using an app?
  • Can I buy/topup my meter online without having to actually enter in the "Code" that one gets when buying from say PnP?

Anyone have any idea about what the price of 1 unit of electricity (kWh)?


Would appreciate any advice.

Cheers!
 
Last edited:
You can get a code on line, but you must always manually enter the number on the keypad
 
rinorobert said:
Hi Guys,

I have a prepaid electricity meter in our apartment and I was wondering if I could do a few things with it.

  • Can I view the balance of the meter online, or using an app?
  • Can I buy/topup my meter online without having to actually enter in the "Code" that one gets when buying from say PnP?

Anyone have any idea about what the price of 1 unit of electricity (kWh)?


Would appreciate any advice.

Cheers!
Click to expand...

Welcome to pre-paid electricity hell!

I buy my pre-paid elec online on the PayCity website ...the pre-paid meter was already installed when I bought the house. I know that pre-paid is actually slightly more expensive (per Kw/hr) that post-paid in the town I live in, but any new home built in this town will have to have a pre-paid meter. Many residents here still have post-paid meters, and enjoy a slightly cheaper R per Kw/hour rate. Their meters are still read my the local council. It's crazy that post paid is cheaper than pre-paid here, as with pre-paid meters the local council has zero debt risk i.r.o. elec consumption.

The pre-paid meter I have is not a "smart meter" so I still have to enter the activation code/PIN when I buy online from Paycity. I read somewhere that some larger towns now have smart "connected" meters, and I guess that those could then be "topped-up" via the pre-paid elec units vendor

Re: the price per KW/HR .. I suppose each municipality may set different rates. When I buy I get 30 "free" units, and the rest of the units is priced on a sliding scale, i.e. after the 30 free units, the next "x" units are at a higher price, and the next "y" units are an even higher price.

This annoys me, as it means I can't buy, say, 6 months estimated KW/hr units, because the sliding scale charge would make the total units expensive overall.
 
atomcrusher said:
Welcome to pre-paid electricity hell!

I buy my pre-paid elec online on the PayCity website ...the pre-paid meter was already installed when I bought the house. I know that pre-paid is actually slightly more expensive (per Kw/hr) that post-paid in the town I live in, but any new home built in this town will have to have a pre-paid meter. Many residents here still have post-paid meters, and enjoy a slightly cheaper R per Kw/hour rate. Their meters are still read my the local council. It's crazy that post paid is cheaper than pre-paid here, as with pre-paid meters the local council has zero debt risk i.r.o. elec consumption.

The pre-paid meter I have is not a "smart meter" so I still have to enter the activation code/PIN when I buy online from Paycity. I read somewhere that some larger towns now have smart "connected" meters, and I guess that those could then be "topped-up" via the pre-paid elec units vendor

Re: the price per KW/HR .. I suppose each municipality may set different rates. When I buy I get 30 "free" units, and the rest of the units is priced on a sliding scale, i.e. after the 30 free units, the next "x" units are at a higher price, and the next "y" units are an even higher price.

This annoys me, as it means I can't buy, say, 6 months estimated KW/hr units, because the sliding scale charge would make the total units expensive overall.
Click to expand...

There is no difference in price between prepaid and postpaid as far as I'm aware
 
C4Cat said:
There is no difference in price between prepaid and postpaid as far as I'm aware
Click to expand...

It really depends who provides your electricity. In SOME muncipalities it is the same; but in MANY it is not.
Eskom's own tariff's are different for pre-paid and account customers.
 
richjdavies said:
It really depends who provides your electricity. In SOME muncipalities it is the same; but in MANY it is not.
Eskom's own tariff's are different for pre-paid and account customers.
Click to expand...

Can you provide a source explaining the tariff differences between prepaid and account customers?
 
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