South Africa

Eldorado Park residents reject prepaid electricity meters, but Eskom pushes ahead

27 Sep 2024

In a community meeting on Sunday, 15 September, Eldorado Park residents dug in their heels on their decision to reject Eskom’s prepaid meters and its recoding programme.

“They are controlling our lives now,” Eldorado Park leader Majiet Amien says of Eskom’s attempts to install and recode prepaid electricity meters in the community.

Speaking to Daily Maverick more than a week after a 15 September meeting in Eldorado Park, Soweto, where residents unanimously rejected the installation of prepaid meters and Eskom’s recoding process, Majiet said the reason is because the meters are not quality approved.

Prepaid meters are being recoded countrywide as part of Eskom’s Token Identification (TID) Rollover project, which has a 24 November 2024 deadline, after which prepaid meters that have not been updated will not work. The power utility is also replacing some meters.

“The way they have gone about it is unconstitutional. It’s not done properly. In normal practice, the South African Bureau of Standards must be part of it,” Majiet said.

Resident Charmaine Billings asked: “Was there no other way to go about this without causing so much anxiety?

“It feels like a doomed last-gasp effort. The end of the world of some sort. Doomsday. I wonder when they knew about the problem.”

Majiet added: “You can’t threaten our people and our consumers to say that they are forfeiting their tokens. We resolved at the meeting that meters were not going to be installed by nobody.”

He said that during a meeting with Johannesburg’s executive mayor, Dada Morero, he had requested proof of SABS approval for the meters, but had received none.

Recoding

Eskom’s Key Revision Number (KRN) or Token Identifier (TID) Rollover project is to ensure that all prepaid electricity meters are correctly re-coded before they switch to a new TID code on 24 November 2024.

A total of 6,899,860 prepaid meters are earmarked for recoding.

The Limpopo province has the highest number of prepaid meters, 1,459,186, of which 1,489,392 have been flagged for recoding, and 915,948 key change tokens have been issued. KwaZulu-Natal has 1,260,000 prepaid meters, with 1,229,161 flagged and 554,312 key change tokens issued.

Eastern Cape has 1,164,073 prepaid meters while Gauteng has 879,190 prepaid meters, of which 821,634 have been flagged, with 445,214 key change tokens issued .

Eskom cautioned customers against buying tokens in advance, before the recoding process. It said tokens bought in advance will not work once the prepaid meters have been recoded. Once the key change system goes live in their area, customers will also receive two 20-digit numbers when purchasing an electricity recharge token from vendors.

Eskom said the programme is a do-it-yourself (DIY) rollover, and prepaid customers will be guided on how to recode their meters in three easy steps:

Key in the first 20 digits of the recode token and wait for it to be accepted.

Key in the second 20 digits of the recode token and wait for it to be accepted.

Lastly, key in the 20 digits of your purchased token to recharge your meter.

Why is this necessary?

According to Eskom, all prepayment meters based on Standard Transfer Specification (STS) technology will stop accepting new credit tokens because vending codes will expire. This will mean that they stop dispensing electricity after the existing credit is used up, thus making the meter inactive.

Each credit token has a unique TID encoded in the 20 digits to prevent token replay at the meter. According to Eskom, the TID is referenced to a base date of 1993 and will run out of range in 2024 (the TID Rollover event), causing the prepayment meter to stop accepting new tokens.

Eskom said all prepaid meters, whether under Eskom or municipality supply, must be recoded. Those that are not recoded will not accept purchased tokens, which will render the prepaid meter useless. In a nutshell, the lifespan of the current vending codes of meters will be coming to an end on 24 November 2024.

Soweto has endured a bitter-sweet relationship with Eskom for years.

The majority of Soweto residents strongly opposed the installation of prepaid meters in their homes as far back as 2015; however, Eskom moved forward with the programme.

Read more: Prepaid is pre-checked: Eskom vs. Soweto enters the next round

Response from authorities

Eskom would not say how far the recoding process has progressed and did not respond to questions about the approval process or whether any laws were flouted during the meter recoding process.

Majiet said the community was also opposed to the recoding because the prepaid meters and parts were not locally manufactured.

“Because if you look at the National Automotive Radiator Service Association (NARSA) Act, it says they must be locally manufactured. The only exception is when the Department of Infrastructure gives the green light,” Majiet said.

In response to Daily Maverick’s question about whether there was proper consultation with residents, City Power said: “City Power announced the TID Rollover project from the beginning of 2023. That was followed by a series of educational programmes, which included community engagements across all regions in the city of Johannesburg that are serviced by City Power, including Eldorado Park,” spokesperson Isaac Mangena said.

“So far, nearly all vending customers have had their prepaid meter codes upgraded, which is testament of the extensive work that City Power has done in engaging all stakeholders on the TID programme. The main challenge that we have been facing in relation to meter coding upgrades, has been with non-vending customers,” Mangena said.

“The majority of those customers are not vending due to meter bypassing, and because many want to continue enjoying using electricity without paying for it, they refuse to allow technicians to audit their meters. The refusal to perform meter code upgrades is not linked with consultations, because we have been promoting the importance of this programme across all areas that we supply.”

On the claim that the programme is not quality assured by the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) or another quality assurance authority, Mangena said people are not necessarily rejecting the TID Rollover programme, which he said is quality assured and being rolled outcountrywide. He said people are objecting to meter installations, adding that meter tampering prevents token conversion from taking place.

“As part of the metering code upgrade, we first audit meters to establish if the existing hardware is TID-compliant, and if not, the team would replace them – at no cost. It’s important to note that without this upgrade, customers will no longer be able to top up their electricity units after the November deadline. This will render those meters obsolete, leaving City Power with no choice, but to remove its infrastructure because it will have no use.”

Repercussions

City Power told Daily Maverick that it had done everything in its power to manage the transition.

“But we wish to warn those who are reluctant that while City Power is currently rolling out the TID project free of charge, those who continue refusing the service, will incur costs after the deadline which is on 24 November 2024,” Mangena said.

“If customers continue to show reluctance in allowing our teams to install new meters, the existing infrastructure will have to be removed because it will be sitting there dormant. This will unfortunately force customers to reapply for electricity connection, which will come with additional costs.”

Mangena added: “In April this year, City Power introduced a DIY method in a bid to fast-track the process of recoding meters in order to meet the looming deadline. As a result, meters belonging to customers who purchase electricity, have been duly coded.” DM

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South Africa

Recoding

Why is this necessary?

Response from authorities

Repercussions