As the Eskom meter upgrade looms, hundreds of people are queuing outside the Eskom offices in Marburg seeking help to update their meters.

Eskom prepaid-meter customers can upgrade their meters for free by Sunday, November 24, or they could face paying up to R12 000 for a replacement meter.

Frustrated Gogo Thintile Khuzwayo of Nositha said she woke up at 04:00 to secure a spot in front of the queue, but people were already queuing.

Khuzwayo said she feared that Sunday might pass without her upgrade being complete.

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FRUSTRATION | Eskom prepaid meter customers queue outside the Marburg offices. . #kzn #prepaid #electricity

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After a Soweto man collapsed and died while in a queue waiting for his turn to have his Eskom prepaid meter upgraded yesterday (November 21), the uMkhonto weSizwe Party in Ugu said it was planning to go to the Marburg offices since the queue seems to be at a standstill.

“We heard that there is only one person in that office who is assisting people in the queue and that there is only 60 people being assisted per day. We want to speak to the management of the Marburg office before what happened in Soweto happens here,” said the party.

Eskom KZN spokesperson Joyce Zingoni said the power utility was urging prepaid customers to check and recode their meters by Sunday as requested by the Standard Transfer Specification Association (STSA).

Zingoni said after this deadline meters will no longer accept electricity tokens unless they are updated to Key Revision Number (KRN).

“Failure to recode by the deadline will prevent customers from loading electricity tokens, rendering their meters inoperable. Customers are urged to check their meters first, before visiting their nearest Eskom offices,” she said.

To check meters numbers, customers need to enter 1844 6744 0738 4377 2416, said Zingoni.

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