Eskom prepaid meter final warning

Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena has reiterated that the 24 November 2024 deadline for updating prepaid electricity meters cannot be extended.

Standards Transfer Specification (STS)-compliant meters that aren’t updated by the deadline will become inoperable and no longer accept electricity tokens. These customers will suffer electricity losses once their credits run out.

Unless prepaid users update their meters, they will need a meter replacement that could cost up to R12,000.

Speaking to eNCA, Mokwena said Eskom has been urging customers to update their meters since August 2023.

“We’ve been encouraging our customers to update their meters, and hence, we’ve got the five million that have updated their meters,” she said.

“One of the main provinces that we’re still struggling with is KwaZulu-Natal, followed by Gauteng,” said Mokwena.

“Unfortunately, these meters are going to be expiring on the 24th of November. We cannot extend because they were set 30 years ago to expire on this date.”

The full reason the Eskom won’t extend the deadline is because it can’t. The deadline was not arbitrarily chosen — it is dictated by the technical specifications of the system South Africa adopted for prepaid meters.

An anti-fraud system built into the meters, which is essentially a timer that counts from a specific date and time, will run out of range at 20:15 on Sunday.

The only fix is to input two 20-digit codes that must be generated for every meter. Any legitimate electricity vendor can generate these codes.

Once input, the codes essentially change the date from which the timer counts so that it will only run out again in November 2035.

When asked about the long queues currently at Eskom branches as those who haven’t updated their meters rush there for assistance as the deadline approaches, Mokwena said Eskom encouraged users to do this earlier.

“We’ve been encouraging customers to come forward and avoid these long queues towards the deadline, and unfortunately, we are at that point,” she said.

“We are working with those customers. Our teams are out there through satellite offices and social media.”

She added that Eskom encourages its customers to visit its self-service sites, including its chatbot, which they can use to get clarity on how to update their meters.

According to Eskom’s key revision number (KRN) dashboard, nearly 1.9 million Eskom meters still need to be updated by Sunday, 24 November.

This means roughly 471,404 Eskom direct customers must update their meters daily between now and Sunday for no one to be left behind.

However, the high prevalence of meters that have yet to transact on the new system could indicate large-scale electricity theft in South Africa.

Many of Eskom’s prepaid customers may have bypassed their meters or could be buying illegal vouchers from ghost vendors.

How to update your prepaid electricity meter

Fortunately, Eskom provides a step-by-step guide to updating prepaid meters alongside its KRN dashboard. The first step is determining whether the meter has already been recoded from KRN 1 to KRN 2.

Customers can enter 1844 6744 0738 4377 2416 to check this on their meter’s keypad. The screen will display the number 1 or 2; in some cases, it could also display letters next to the KRN number.

If your meter displays a 1, it is still on KRN 1 and hasn’t been recoded yet.

Customers can recode their meters themselves by completing the following steps:

• Obtain two key change tokens from a legitimate prepaid electricity vendor — this includes banking apps and similar value-added service resellers
• Enter the first 20-digit recode token and wait for it to be accepted
• Enter the second 20-digit recode token and wait for it to be accepted
• Enter the 20 digits of your electricity voucher to recharge on KRN version 2

It’s important to note that once updated, any tokens purchased in advance won’t work on the updated meter.

Customers who struggle to update their meter with these steps can contact one of Eskom’s support lines for prepaid meter updates, which are provided in the table below.