Midvaal says all electricity prepaid meters in its areas of supply have been upgraded

The Midvaal local municipality says it has fully implemented the Token Identifier (TID) Rollover for prepaid electricity meters and that residents will not experience any disruptions or difficulties with their electricity tokens after the November 24 deadline.

The municipality started its TID rollover project in August 2023 and completed it in August this year.

The project entailed converting 16 756 prepaid meters that were on Key Revision Number (KRN) 1 to KRN 2 to allow meters to vend beyond the deadline. It also included the replacement of noncompliant meters.

The municipality spent more than R13-million to complete the project.

"The TID rollover has significantly improved revenue collection for the municipality by relocating prepayment meters from customers' premises to street-level pillar boxes or poletop boxes," Midvaal said in a statement.

This change has reduced meter tampering and made meter audits more efficient, enhancing access for the municipality and strengthening revenue protection, it added.

The TID rollout has also helped the municipality by ensuring that all Standard Transfer Specification prepayment meters now reject tokens bought from unauthorised vendors, or so-called ghost vendors, following the completion of TID rollover key changes.

Before the TID rollout, the municipality's buying index was 85%, which has now increased to 90%, the municipality said.

The cities of Cape Town and Ekurhuleni on November 21 also assured residents in their areas of supply that all electricity prepaid meters had been successfully updated ahead of the November 24 deadline.

This comes as the South African Local Government Association reported that more than 260 000 meters under management of municipalities across the country had yet to be upgraded.

The City of Tshwane has extended the operating hours of its municipal offices throughout this weekend to assist customers in updating their meters.

Power utility Eskom, meanwhile, is responsible for 6.9-million electricity prepaid meters in the country and, by November 21, only 5.2-million of those meters were transacting on KRN 2.