- Eskom has completed all the necessary back-end investments to implement a Key Revision Number Rollover project for meter recoding.
- The utility is pursuing a free, “do-it-yourself” (DIY) implementation process.
Eskom has said systems and strategies are in place to facilitate the seamless operation of the 6.8 million prepaid meters within its distribution areas after November 24 next year. By November 2024, the meters will no longer be able to accept electricity tokens unless they have been recoded to do so.
All Standard Transfer Specification (STS) meters globally, including those in municipal distribution areas in South Africa, are subject to the cut-off deadline. The reason is that the Token Identifier (TID) range, set against a base date of January 1, 1993, will be exhausted in November 2024 unless reset. Without recoding, the STS-compliant meters will stop accepting credit tokens.
Eskom’s Velaphi Ntuli says the power utility has made all the necessary back-end investments to allow for the implementation of a Key Revision Number Rollover project. The power utility firm also recruited additional staff to meet the rollover deadline. He did not provide an investment amount, saying that the figure was being finalised, including the budget required to communicate the changes to affected electricity consumers using traditional media, social media, and Eskom’s Alfred chatbot.
The utility is pursuing a free, do-it-yourself (DIY) implementation process. Through this process, Eskom’s regular vending agents will issue affected prepaid consumers with two 20-digit key-change tokens with their standard credit token. The consumer will then punch in the numbers on the key-change tokens to recode their existing meter, after which they can load it with credit as usual.
Eskom insists that the credit in the meter at the reset time will be unaffected by the recoding. The key-change tokens will be available only from physical vending agents, as online vendors cannot generate key-change tokens. The DIY approach means that the recoding is not reliant on contractors or installers. Eskom warns that anyone posing as an Eskom employee claiming to require access to a property should be turned away and reported to the South African Police Service. Once the meter is recoded, customers will be able to use their preferred vending channel, including online platforms.