City customers have no reason to worry about the deadline. File Picture: Ziphozonke Lushaba
The City of Cape Town has announced its prepaid electricity meter updates are done and its customers will not be impacted by the looming end of November deadline.
All prepaid meters are required by the Standard Transfer Specification Association (STSA) to be updated by November 24.
According to Eskom, after the November deadline, all meters will no longer accept electricity tokens unless they are updated to Key Revision Number (KRN) 2.
The City of Cape Town said its prepaid electricity meter updates have been completed way ahead of the National Prepaid Meter Software Update deadline and City-supplied customers are not impacted by the end November deadline.
It has urged Eskom customers to approach the power utility.
The City also calls on Eskom to ramp up its customer support and customer hubs across the metro where Eskom supplies residents. Customers with private sub-meters are encouraged to contact the private installers for assistance.
All of the approximately 570,000 City prepaid meters have been updated. City-supplied customers who are uncertain of their software update from KRN1 to KRN2 are able to check by simply entering the code 1844 6744 0738 4377 2416 on their prepaid meter’s keypad. The screen will display one of two messages: “1” means the update is required and “2” means the meter has already been updated.
Mayoral committee member for energy, Alderman Xanthea Limberg said the programme and associated communication campaign for the City-supplied meters ran for three years.
“Due to the sheer volumes of meters in the Cape Town metro supply, the highest number of all other municipalities in the country, operational teams could provide back-up assistance, but customers needed to have the confidence to update their meters, and trust the City’s processes. Well done to our customers and the City for showing again why Team Cape Town always steps up to the challenge,” Limberg said.
City customers have all completed the updates, no further action is required.
1. Token receipt – most receipts should indicate who supplies a customer’s electricity
2. Monthly account – if a customer receives an account from the City, they are a City-supplied customer. If their account is from Eskom, they are an Eskom-supplied customer.
3. If in doubt, check the load shedding map for an idea of areas supplied by the City or Eskom but note it is a high-level view.
4. If in doubt, phone the City’s Call Centre on 0860 103 089 or send a WhatsApp message to 060 018 1505 with the meter number.
Failure to update will costs customers R12,000.
robin.francke@iol.co.za
IOL