City Power agents are on a drive to convert all old electricity prepaid meters to smart meters before November 24, or some households will be cut off from the grid as they will not be able to load prepaid electricity tokens. Picture: CityPowerJHB/Supplied
Joburg’s City Power has announced it will extend operating hours to 7pm in a bid to complete the upgrades of the 1,000 odd households who have not upgraded their prepaid meters.
Joburg residents who have not upgraded/recoded their prepaid meters by Sunday, November 24, could find themselves in the dark if they have not upgraded their meters to KRN2 from the current KRN1 regime.
Eskom has warned members of the public that meters still using KRN1 (Key Revision Number 1) will no longer accept electricity tokens after Sunday.
Joburg City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said they were also suspending penalty fees for non-vending customers “as we race against
the clock to complete the metering upgrades ahead of the looming Token Identifier (TID) rollover project deadline”.
“While we are pleased that over 99% of our vending pre-paid meters have been duly upgraded, there’s still a handful of vending customers who are still outstanding,” he said.
Mangena said there were 1,001 customers requiring upgrades, 562 of whom were in
Alexandra where the City Power technicians were still facing some reluctance from customers.
“However, we have noticed that the majority of those customers who are refusing to give us access into their properties are opting to visit our Service Delivery Centres, to seek assistance with upgrades,” said Mangena.
In Midrand, there were about 255 prepaid meter upgrades outstanding mainly due to address issues.
Mangena said their staff would be working even at night and on the weekend to upgrade a further 188 customers who were not available for upgrades due to work.
“Our teams that will be working at night and over the weekend will attend to this group of customers. From today, our Service Delivery Centres across the city of Johannesburg will remain open until 7pm in the evening to address the backlog of meters that need upgrading.
“Our offices will also be open on Saturday and Sunday to allow our teams to continue attending to TID related queries for extended period of time,” he said.
Do It Yourself
Mangena said they were encouraging all outstanding customers to
use the DIY method to complete the upgrade as an alternative.
When residents buy electricity units, customers with unconverted meters will receive three 20-digit token codes, the last of which is the unit token
code.
“If all three tokens are accepted, it means the meter has been successfully upgraded,” said Mangena.
For queries around the City of Johannesburg, residents can call 0800 202 925, where a technician will be assigned to assist over the phone or arrange a visit.
How To Check Your Meter
For customers who are unsure about the status of their prepaid meters, below are some of the methods
to confirm:
• Receipt verification: After purchasing electricity units, check your receipt. If your prepaid meter has been converted, it will indicate "KRN 2" underneath the token units.
• Contact the Call Centre: For immediate assistance, you can reach out to City Power's call centre Toll Free number on 0800 202 925.
• Visit Our Customer Service Centres: You are welcome to visit any of our customer service centres, where our staff will assist you in verifying your meter status.
• Key in the code: Key in 1844 6744 0738 4377 2416 in the CIU of the meter.
City Power has urged customers not to pay any technician, contractor or anyone purporting to be from City Power.
Those making demands for cash payments must be immediately reported to our Security Risk Management on 0800 002 587.
“Under no circumstance should anyone carrying out work sanctioned by City Power demand payment directly from customers. We will not hesitate to take drastic measures to deal with employees who attempt to defraud customers,” he said.
City Power said the process was also an opportunity for those who had bypassed the meters with illegal connections to normalise their meters without facing a stiff fine.
Mangena said to date, over 4,100 households had normalised their prepaid meters and they would not face a fine.
“Our goal is to ensure that all customers are properly metered and held accountable, ensuring that everyone contributes fairly to the cost of electricity usage,” said Mangena.
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