People whose prepaid electricity meters have been tampered with are likely to be left in the dark as they will not be able to upgrade their meters to align with the new system called STS-2 before the November 24 deadline.
City of Tshwane Utility Services MMC Themba Fosi warned that if a meter has been tampered with or if ghost vending activities are detected, the meter will not be able to be upgraded to STS-2.
“This will result in the meter becoming non-functional, as it will no longer be able to read tokens. We strongly encourage residents to avoid tampering with meters and to refrain from engaging in illegal connections,” he said.
Fosi also reported that the municipality continued to make inroads in the ongoing token identity rollover programme, which is crucial to upgrade the City’s prepaid electricity meters to align with the latest STS-2 compliance.
“This programme, which is managed by the Energy and Electricity Department, is progressing well and is critical to ensuring the continued functionality of prepaid meters beyond November 24, 2024,” he said.
He said the token identity rollover has been systematically executed across the regions of Tshwane, with each region’s prepaid meters being upgraded according to a structured timeline.
“As of today, 100% of the prepaid meters that require STS-2 activation have been loaded on the vending system so that customers can receive their conversion identity rollover tokens,” he said.
The total number of prepaid meters loaded is 349 801 while the successful transactions on STS-2 is 194 518 and pending transactions for STS-2 activation is 154 957.
Fosi said: “We have engaged with ward councillors to ensure that communities are informed, made aware of the upgrade process, and given assistance with any queries or support they may need. This collaborative effort is essential for smoothly implementing the token identity rollover.”
He urged all residents to ensure that their prepaid meters are updated to STS-2 before November 24 by following the instructions provided by the city.
“For assistance, residents can contact the City of Tshwane’s customer care lines or visit our website for more information,”he said.
Alternatively, customers can send a WhatsApp message to 072 149 8552 for regions 1, 2, and 5. Those residing in regions 3 and 6 can send messages to 076 892 7328 while those in regions 3 and 6 can forward enquiries to 063 671 3137.
“The WhatsApp message must include the customer’s City of Tshwane account number, address, contact number and prepaid meter number,” Fosi said.
Pretoria News