CoCT urges customers to contact Eskom for clarity on prepaid meter status
Sunday is D-Day for South Africans to update their electricity meters.
A prepaid electricity meter and an electricity mains unit. Picture: @CityofCT/X
CAPE TOWN - The City of Cape Town says electricity customers who are supplied directly by Eskom should contact the utility for clarification on their prepaid meter status.
This as Sunday’s D-day for South Africans to update their electricity meters.
The City of Cape Town says 570,000 of its customers have updated their electricity meter boxes ahead of the deadline.
According to the metro, the process of updating city-owned meters has been ongoing for the past three years.
"Due to the sheer volume of meters in the Cape Town metro, the highest number in any municipality in the country, operational teams can provide backup assistance. However, customers must have confidence in the update process and trust the city's procedures" said City MMC for Energy, Xanthea Limberg.
Eskom has warned that electricity consumers who have not updated their meters by Sunday will face a R12,000 fee for replacing their old meters.
It has emphasised that no deadline extension will be granted to prepaid customers who have not updated their meters.
-City Power confident customers will meet prepaid meter upgrade deadline
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Before the deadline, customers can still upgrade their meters for free, ensuring they can continue purchasing and redeeming electricity tokens.
Eskom said the update was necessary to crack down on fraud linked to prepaid meters.
Last week, thousands of panicked customers flooded service hubs in townships like Soweto, in an effort to upgrade their meters before the looming deadline.
Eighty-two-year-old Lerato Didiza said R12,000 is unattainable in this economy.
“Every month you must pay R500 and we only get R2,000 a month - you pay the police (neighbourhood watch), you eat. How are we supposed to pay that money?”