Christmas in the dark? – Only 13% of City Power prepaid meters converted

Here's what you can do to make sure you are not left in the dark in November.

A candle in front of a prepaid electricity meter.

Photo for illustration: iStock

It may be a gloomy end of the year for thousands of Johannesburg residents who buy prepaid electricity if they do not convert or recode their meters.

The current Standard Transfer Specification (STS) – compliant prepaid electricity meters will stop providing electricity in November 2024, when the current codes used for the systems will expire.

The City of Johannesburg‘s City Power has been working on the conversion of meters in its areas, but admitted to struggles this week that had seen it so far only convert about 38 474 (13.5%) of the 283 966 meters registered.

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It has been running conversions and auditing at the same time, and said it had by Wednesday fully audited less than a third of the meters, 84 998 or 29.9%.

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This with only months left to convert all meters.

It said among the hurdles it faced were residents not opening their homes to City Power workers.

Just do it yourself

It has introduced a do-it-yourself meter re-coding initiative to make sure you are not left in the dark.

From Monday, the utility will allow you to convert your meter to the new system.

“A schedule with specific dates on which a suburb can convert to the new system will be shared through all the City Power communication platforms. Technicians will be on standby to assist those who might encounter some challenges when re-coding their meters,”

When your area is active, you will recieve three token codes when you make your next electricity purchase.

If your area is active from Monday, you should load units you have already bought because once your meter has been converted these tokens will not be accepted by the meter.

Re-coding: step by step

Once City Power announces your area is active for conversion:
• Key in the first 20 digits of your re-code token and wait for it to be accepted
• Key in the second 20 digits of your re-code token and wait for it to be accepted
• Key in the 20 digits of your purchased token to recharge your meter.

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