A handful of municipalities have completed an update required to prevent all their prepaid electricity meters from becoming non-functional next year. Most authorities though, including Eskom, haven’t or have hardly started the process.
All STS compliant prepaid electricity meters will become non-functional on 24 November 2024 unless updated.A problem affecting prepaid electricity meters will result in them becoming non-functional next year unless they are updated.Most authorities though, including Eskom, have hardly started the process. A handful of municipalities have completed or nearly finished an update required to prevent prepaid electricity meters from not functioning next year.
That means that prepaid electricity meters have a built-in expiry date. This happens to elapse on 24 November 2024, after which users will not be able to vend electricity unless their meters are updated. The numbers that the dashboard reflect were previously inaccurate, but have now been fixed, according to Dr Silas Mulaudzi, a sustainable energy specialist at Salga.
Their experience could provide some insight into the challenges that will be faced by other authorities yet to get their projects off the ground.Delphine Thorne, who headed up the rollover project in the Karoo-based Dr Beyers Naude municipality, said the municipality was first notified about the need for the update in 2015.
The remaining 2% of meters had been updated over the past 18 months and are essentially complete, said Hill. He said there were 10 people, split into teams of two, performing the update in the municipality. They worked right the way through the year including holidays such as Christmas and Easter in order to complete the project.Cape Agulhas made use of a similar approach to Dr Beyers Naude as they contracted Ontec to perform their rollover and audit at the same time.
"If we had only started with the project now, it would have been impossible to complete the project before November 2024. The only other option would be to ask consumers to do the rollover themselves, but there will be challenges.”Both Dr Beyers Naude and Cape Agulhas also tried to use a point-of-purchase update system in some areas.
Cooper said they achieved some success with point-of-purchase rollovers, but he wouldn't want to do that at scale.He said there are a lot of problematic meters, even if only 1% or 2% of people struggle to perform the update themselves. The project is being completed in-house by City staff. Van Reenen said it is"relatively straightforward" for customers to update their own meters.Other municipalities that had made significant progress in the rollover project include Newcastle, Ba-Phalaborwa, Drakenstein, and Polokwane.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Eskom suspends rolling blackouts until 4pm - SABC NewsEskom is calling on all South Africans to please use electricity wisely. This comes at a time when the power utility is even under greater pressure to keep the lights on as more households use electricity during winter.
Read more »
Eskom to suspend load shedding every day until further noticeEskom says recoveries in generating capacity should allow it to suspend load shedding every day – until something changes.
Read more »
Stage 3 load shedding to be implemented during evenings until further notice | The CitizenEskom on Tuesday announced that stage 3 load shedding will be implemented during the evenings, from 4pm until midnight, until further notice. 💡RollingBlackouts Read more on TheCitizenNews
Read more »
Eskom says sabotage-implicated executive is not currently on its radar | City PressIn response to City Press Sunday’s report regarding a high-ranking official being behind several incidents of sabotage at power stations, struggling power utility Eskom has affirmed its commitment to combatting fraud and corruption within the organisation
Read more »
How Eskom managed to tame load sheddingThe incredible shift from Stage 6 loadshedding to Stage 3, potentially even lower, was arguably always predictable. Moneyweb Eskom
Read more »