Prepaid token crisis: Free State utility pushes the right buttons

Following the news of prepaid meters software expected to expire in 2024 – that will reportedly affect millions of meters across the country – the license holder and electricity distributor in the Free State, Centlec, is ready to act.

The entity will soon embark on an initiative to upgrade prepaid meter software by changing meter coding as per the international Token Identifier (TID) rollover facing all prepaid customers globally.

According to the power utility, the current meter software is expected to expire in the year 2024, and any meter that has not been re-coded by November 24, 2024, will not be able to upload prepaid tokens and will leave customers without electricity.

Centlec is expected to start the first phase of the project in Dewetsdorp, Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality. The change will be implemented at no cost to customers, the entity says.

“It is the responsibility of the customer to ensure that all tokens purchased before the firmware update are loaded on the meter. Once the update is done, the meter will not accept the tokens purchased before the update.”

For more information regarding the Centlec TID Rollover in the metro, contact 051 409 2316.