Power utility Eskom says it has successfully completed its prepaid meter Key Revision Number (KRN) rollover project, but has set a new deadline of December 13 to assist paying customers who are still experiencing challenges and an estimated 1.7-million zero buyers that are yet to complete the upgrade.

Eskom points out that it started off with a customer base of 6.91-million prepaid customers, while a data cleaning exercise fully updated the incomplete details of 341 000 customers, taking the customer base to 7.25-million.

As of November 24, about 5.5-million customers, including about 400 000 zero buyers who have now become paying customers, have successfully rolled over and are transacting on KRN 2.

The utility says it is observing a decrease in the zero buyer numbers to about 1.7-million from the previous 12-month rolling average of 2.1-million.

“In the past ten days, we saw zero buyers coming forward in huge numbers wanting to buy electricity and do the right thing. We will continue to treat these users with dignity and respect as we resolve these issues for all of them who did the right thing. We acknowledge also that this was a complex process presenting a challenging set of issues and was at times fraught and we continue to monitor and stabilise the system to ensure a smooth customer experience," comments Eskom distribution executive Monde Bala.

“The result of this technology changeover has brought Eskom around 400 000 previous zero buyers to become new paying customers and provided us with a wealth of data to bring further zero buyers into legitimately purchasing electricity.

Eskom is doing everything that is practically possible to make users of electricity pay for it in the interest of those who already pay for electricity, maintain the sustainability of Eskom to drive the economic growth of South Africa and reduce our burden on the taxpayer,” adds Eskom CE Dan Marokane.

The utility is urging zero buyers who bought electricity before the deadline but have a meter-related matter such as a lost, bypassed or tampered meter, to visit one of Eskom centres by December 13.

"Their individual situations will be assessed, tamper fines issued if required and meter updates and replacements will then be scheduled," Eskom notes.

Further, all paying customers who bought electricity before the November 24 deadline and have had their meters made KRN 2 compliant, but who are experiencing difficulties, will also be assisted to complete the process and will not be unfairly penalised.

Zero buyers who bought electricity before the deadline but were unable to load their meters, are encouraged to take their slips/tokens to the nearest Eskom Hub by December 13 for assistance.

"Those who have come forward but did not buy, or attempt to buy, electricity tokens by November 24 are encouraged to buy electricity tokens before December 13. Their meters will be audited and tamper fines and meter replacement costs will be assessed and issued accordingly. They can come forward at any time," Eskom says.