If you haven’t bought a legal token for your prepaid electricity meter in the past six months or more you need to take urgent action – or face darkness and extra costs.

Tomorrow is the last day for South Africa’s prepaid electricity customers still on the Key Revision Number 1 (KRN1) system to buy legal tokens.

Failing to do so will mean that their lights will go off and their meters will no longer accept tokens – whether legally bought or not – from Monday.

Speaking to Caxton Local Media this morning, Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena said a technical breakthrough by Eskom will allow zero buyers to convert their meters to KRN2 beyond tomorrow’s deadline. “However,” she said, “for this to happen, zero buyers must still purchase an electricity voucher from a legal vendor today or tomorrow.”

For months, Eskom has warned prepaid electricity customers to update their electricity meters. For legal electricity users, this was an easy process – they simply inputted a code they were given when purchasing electricity to recode their meters.

However, the process is not as simple for zero buyers, who have connected to the Eskom grid illegally, without paying the power utility, either through illegal connections or unauthorised tokens bought from criminal syndicates.

Mokwena explained some zero buyers may not even have a meter or the meter may be non-functional. “We will still assist them, as long as they buy a legal prepaid electricity voucher before the deadline. These vouchers must then be taken to an Eskom office from Monday or thereafter for assistance.

“People do not all have to come to our offices at once,” Mokwena said, saying that Eskom will probably continue to offer assistance through November. However, a cut-off date is yet to be decided, she said.

What happens after D-day?

People who do not update their meters this weekend will lose power once their current credit is depleted and their meter will become inoperable.

Eskom had previously said a new meter would then have to be purchased at a cost of around R12 000, but the technological breakthrough announced yesterday will enable Eskom to pre-create key change tokens on its online vending system.

In a statement released yesterday, Eskom said: “Zero buyers need to go to their legal vending sites with their meter numbers to buy electricity. They will be issued their key change token by the vending agents to make their meters KRN2 compliant.

“This action of purchasing credit tokens must be completed before Sunday, November 24, to trigger the activation of the meter to the KRN2 mode. Once the meter has been activated by the purchase of electricity, the customer can then visit any of the Eskom sites to complete the conversion process. The final step can be completed after November 24.”

Is my meter complaint?

Buying customers are urged to check that their meters have been recoded.

If they were provided with two sets of 20-digit codes when purchasing electricity in the past few months, and inputted these codes, their meters should be complaint.

To simplify the recoding process, Eskom has set up community support teams and self-service tools like the Alfred Chatbot, available on Eskom’s Facebook, X, Instagram, newsletters, radio and broadcast channels. Assistance will be available for the rest of the weekend.

How to check and recode your meter

To verify if your meter is ready:

• Enter 1844 6744 0738 4377 2416 on your meter keypad.
  • If it shows 1 or 1.2, your meter still needs to be recoded.
  • If it shows 2 or 2.2, your meter is already updated and requires no further action.

To complete the recoding:

• Enter the first 20 digits of your recode token.
  • Enter the second 20 digits of your recode token.
  • Finally, enter the 20-digit token from your latest electricity purchase to recharge your meter.

Queues in some areas, process finalised in others

Yesterday, Eskom said the majority of buying customers have completed the change from KRN1 to KRN2.

In Tshwane, the metro has made additional sites available this weekend to assist residents to recode their meters. According to an article published by Pretoria Rekord yesterday, the sites will be open from 08:00 to 17:00 over the weekend.

According to an article published by Middelburg Observer yesterday, hundreds of prepaid electricity meter owners were queuing at the municipality for assistance to get their meters recoded.

All prepaid electricity meters in the George municipal area have been updated successfully. Yesterday, George Herald reported that the municipality confirmed the successful rollover across all areas within the George municipal precinct, including Uniondale, Haarlem, Wilderness and surrounding areas.

According to a report by the Springs Advertiser and one by the Benoni City Times, the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality says it has reached its 100% target for updating actively used meters.

Eskom advises customers to refer to the dashboard on the Eskom website for the updated figures of the Eskom Key Revision Number rollover project.

Final Reminder: Eskom KRN2 Transition!

Time is running out! Ensure your meter is transitioned to KRN2 by 24 November 2024 to keep your power on. If you haven’t received your KRN2 recode token yet, don’t hesitate to reach out to Alfred at https://t.co/tMkACFFM0g pic.twitter.com/DorbEKrNGZ

— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) November 22, 2024