Prepaid electricity in the main, is quite a good concept to look into if you are still running a post paid system and are struggling with exorbitant monthly fees and costs. If you are controlling your energy spend with the post paid method, then this is in order however it can easily become a costly expense. Prepaid electricity too, are not without it’s errors and issues and below we will discuss some very common errors you will come across some time or the other with your prepaid electricity set-up:

Error Messages: 

1. SAD face – probably means it is just finger trouble in typing the token number – please retry
2. DDDD –  Duplicated token. The token has probably been entered already, causing this error. Please double check.
3. Error 30 – Technical error on your meter. To try and troubleshoot this error, please switch off your meter, as well as your electricity mains and give it a few minutes. Afterwards, turn back on your mains and meter back on and retry your token. If the error 30 persists, please contact your municipality and get a technician to come out and have a look at the meter.

Meter Blocked? – It does occur that a meter is blocked by a municipality’s credit control. This means that the municipality prevents your meter from making a prepaid purchase until the block is lifted. To have this lifted the client needs to sort this out with the municipality.

While we are on the subject, also important to note that any outstanding fees on your utility bill that is deemed to be in arrears, can be deducted from your prepaid electricity purchase. If this takes place, it is wise to contact the municipality to resolve this.

For more information please visit: https://straton.co.za/pre-paid/about/prepaid-meter-error-codes/

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This comes after heavy pressure from National Treasury, who imposed municipal debt recovery as a mandatory condition to it’s R59bn life-line, thus the disconnection warnings. This “bail-out”, was signed off by President Cyril Ramaphosa to assist Eskom repay it’s interest. The group debt burden amounts to some R450bn

The municipalities recently threatened with disconnection by Eskom, are Bloemfontein, Mafuba and Mantsopa. This comes after repeated failure to adhere to or honor payment agreements. These were agreed to by the municipalities and Eskom itself. So, what exactly are Eskom threatening to do if these municipalities do not pay up?

Eskom said that they would implement the following disconnection actions; Disconnecting the electricity supply to these municipalities between the times 06:00 and 20:00 during weekdays. As well as disconnections on the weekends following the 3rd December. However, they would be allowing power to be supplied over-night. An amount of 8 hours would be allowed for this to take place.

In other news, disconnections would also be facing the city of Soweto and some parts of the greater Gauteng area. This comes after investigations into meter tampering, as well as non-payment of electricity bills. Eskom says that out of the 180 000 electricity meters in Soweto, 120 000 were found to be tampered with. While in other regions of Gauteng, 490 000 out of the 760 000 energy meters, were found to have been tampered with.

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Yet, not only that, it would also have major impacts for the economy, as Newcastle is predominately a mining town and with the current climate of high unemployment, we can definitely not afford any more job losses. To further the point he was making, Judge Piet Bezuidenhout also made mention that cutting the electricity supply to the Newcastle municipality would be counter-productive. It would not aid Eskom or bring it any closer to recouping any of the funds that is owed.

The urgent application was brought to court last week by the municipality and provincial Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in a bid to stop Eskom from disrupting the town’s electricity supply. However, the municipality was not let off the hook easily. They have been ordered by the High Court and it’s Judge, to enter into a payment plan. The payment plan entails the municipality committing to a monthly payment to Eskom, in the sum of R30 mllion as of the end of this month.

Cooperative Governance MEC Sipho Hlomuka, went on to say that although the judgement comes as a great relief to the community, it does not exempt the municipality from paying up it’s debt, saying that Newcastle municipality should show a degree of responsibility by committing to it’s financial obligations. The judgement handed down should ensure that this financial responsibility is imposed, or so we hope.

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These increases comes as a result of NERSA approving the Eskom application, as they seek to claw back their multi-billion rand debt balance. The increases are something that we as South Africans unfortunately have had to get use to. It is a sad situation and there has been an outcry, which has fallen on deaf ears and we’re resigned to the fact that this is our reality now and it’s something we have to plan around.

In more positive news, ratings agency Moody’s has been of the opinion that South Africa’s credit profile would remain stable above investment grade. This after the ratings agency skipped the issuing of it’s much waited for full assessment of South Africa’s sovereign credit rating. However, they have shared thoughts and comments around the Eskom conundrum saying the efforts of government to assist and offer Eskom with a financial package estimated to total around R150bn over the next 10 years coupled with recent tariff increase announcements “insufficient to address the company’s long-standing financial troubles”.

The power utility is about R420bn in debt. “Its debt amounts to around 8% of GDP, of which 5% of GDP benefits from government guarantees,” it said.

So please be mindful of these changes and cater for it through your budgeting. It would also be very wise to be clued up with how exactly your specific tariff has changed pre- and post- amendment.  Please consult your local municipality websites or offices, or if you are a Eskom direct customer, user this link for more information.

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