South Africa’s shift toward digital operations means businesses can no longer rely on manual utility payments or fragmented value-added service providers. Whether you manage properties, operate SMEs, run retail stores, or build software platforms, it is clear that automation is the future of e-commerce, operations and customer service.

The Powertime Value-Added Service (VAS) Aggregator solves this by giving businesses a single, scalable interface to purchase or resell electricity, water, airtime, data, and bill payments all in one place to streamline operations, reduce admin, and unlock new revenue opportunities.

What Is the Powertime VAS Aggregator?

The Powertime VAS is a secure, developer-friendly platform that connects your business systems, apps, dashboards, billing software, ERPs or management tools, to a wide range of digital services that you can both buy and sell. With one click you can do the following:

• Buy prepaid electricity or water tokens,
• Check your Powertime balances,
• Automate recurring purchases,
• Integrate VAS payments into your platform,

Who Uses Powertime VAS?

The platform is built for businesses that want one place to manage or deliver multiple digital services.

• Property Managers and Landlords: Automate token generation for multiple units, reduce tenant disputes, and eliminate manual top-ups.
• SMEs, Retailers and Online Marketplaces: Buy all utility and digital products for operations in one place; resell electricity, airtime, data, and bill payments at POS or online or offer electricity top-ups as a value-added service to your customers.
• Fintech and App Developers: Add electricity, water, airtime and data purchasing capabilities directly inside your app or financial platform without building the infrastructure yourself.
• Body Corporates and Estates: Centralize metering, billing, token distribution and top-up without depending on manual processes and track usage from a central environment.

Key Benefits of Using the Powertime VAS Platform

1. One Platform for All Services

Instead of dealing with multiple suppliers, APIs, and payment systems, the Powertime VAS platform gives you a unified all-in-one hub to buy or resell electricity, water, airtime, data, and bill payments.

2. Full Automation

Businesses can easily set rules such as:

• “Top up R500 every Monday at 8am”
• “Generate tokens for all tenants on the 1st of every month”

These rules enable the platform to do the work for you automatically, removing human error and keeping operations moving..

3. Reduced Admin and Costs

Manual top-ups take time, especially when managing dozens or hundreds of meters.
The VAS platform automation reduces:

• Staff workload,
• Processing delays,
• Mistakes in token delivery

This leads to lower operational overhead and increased operational efficiency.

4. Enhanced Customer and Tenant Experience

For businesses, property managers, retailers or fintech platforms serving end-users, integration enables:

• Instant token delivery,
• In-app electricity purchases,
• Automated billing,
• Transparent usage data

5. Built to Scale

Whether you manage 5 users or 50,000, the Powertime VAS platform grows with you. There is no need to redesign, no additional infrastructure required. Just plug into the VAS platform and scale.

How Integration Works

• Create a Powertime Business Account: Get access to keys, documentation, and sandbox testing.
• Connect Your Platform or System: Integrate into mobile apps, web platforms, billing tools, POS systems and internal management software.
• Configure Your Rules: Automation for billing cycles, top-ups, and low-balance alerts.
• Go Live: Begin buying or reselling electricity, airtime, data, water, and bill payments instantly.

Are you ready to power your future? Explore Powertime’s platform today to take the next step in your smarter, cleaner and more independent energy journey. Visit our website at www.powertime.co.za for more information and contact our team.

The post How Businesses Can Use the Powertime VAS Aggregator for Streamlined Utilities, Digital Payments and Automated Metering appeared first on Powertime.

If not taken with precautions, it can take your life.

The basic guidelines listed below will help you while working with electricity in your household or workplace.

1. Make sure that your body is dry

Well, we all know water is a powerful but unstable conductor of electricity.

Creating a connection between them or just mixing them can lead to an electric shock.

When planning to work with electricity or just be in contact with it for example when you want to charge your phone by connecting your charger to a socket, you must make sure that your entire body is dry and specifically your hands.

2.  Make sure to use proper equipment.

Always make sure to only use insulated equipment when planning to work or being in contact with electricity. For example, make sure to always use insulated rubber gloves when you want to hold any conductor of electricity such as cables. Use only tools and equipment with non-conducting handles when working on electrical devices.

3. Make sure the main switchboard of electricity is turned off.

Remember nobody can predict what can happen, this applies also to electricity. When working with electricity by for example fixing an appliance, a mistake can happen and a discharge of electricity can affect you. So before working with electricity in your household, make sure to first turn off the main switchboard or just the interrupter.

For example, when you want to change an ampoule electric, make sure to simply switch off the interrupter or to be more careful the main switchboard.

4. Never use damaged equipment.

Always check your equipment quality and also the different cables and electric elements that conduct the electricity in your household. Make sure to avoid broken equipment, frayed cords, or event broken plugs.

5. Never make use of steel or aluminum ladders.

When you want to work with electricity, you always have to make sure to remove any element that can cause you to get electrocuted. Steel and aluminum are really good conductors of electricity, and due to that, you can simply get electrocuted and die. So instead of making use of steel or aluminum ladders make use of wooden or fiberglass ladders for complete safety.

In conclusion,

We are enough safe; a safe household or work environment is not always enough to predict a potential electrical hazard. So, every time you are working with electricity always be cautious and practice every step safely. Constant safety must be considered and mustn’t be compromised in any situation at your workplace or in your household.

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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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South Africans have again been cautioned to become acclimated to control power outages for essentially the following 5 years.

The force utility executed stage two burden shedding as it battles to recuperate from various breakdowns.

Energy expert Ted Blom blames Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter: Eighteen months ago, he said he would have all the plants refurbished and that load shedding would end. Earlier this year, he has come out to say he is not going to spend that money on refurbishing the plants and it would be a better investment to put into renewable. Blom accepts the accentuation on renewable was misguided: “It is far and away more terrible because, with renewable, they are discussing battery stockpiling. there is no utility size battery stockpiling plants accessible any place on the planet. No nation is running battery stockpiling as reinforcement.”

As load shedding was implemented the last few days, Eskom could conduct some repairs to generating units and the maintenance programme proceed. Despite the fact that they were not able to replenish emergency generation reserves, but could reply on support system.

There are still risks to some generating units, which will pressurize Eskom to implement load shedding at short notice. Electricity still needs to be used sparingly to prevent possibility of load shedding. we also have to note that water pumps are also connected to electricity that supply water to the community meaning water can also be affected by load shedding.

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HOW DO I KNOW WHEN I AM GOING TO BE HIT BY LOAD SHEDDING?

The answer is very simple, know your power provider and check the correct load shedding schedules.

• City of Cape Town? Click here 
• Johannesburg? check here
• City of Tshwane? Click here
• City of Ekurhuleni? Check here
• Straight from Eskom? click here to check your load shedding schedule

For more information please check Energy expert Coalition by clicking here

Wondering how you can prepare for load shedding? 

Here are 7 simple ways to prepare for load shedding:

• Check your load shedding schedule regularly so you have enough time to prepare.
• Avoid power surges nuisance tripping: if you know that your area will be affected by Load shedding, switch off appliances, geysers, pool pumps, air conditioners, lights and other electrical equipment to reduce the risk of damage caused when the power comes back on.
• Use a solar geyser and also solar lamps when lights are out.
• Make sure your computer, laptop or phone is fully charged so you can still use them
• Draw some cash as the ATM will be offline
• Keep your bottles in the freezer so they are ice cold when load shedding starts.
• Prepare meals in advance as it is possible to wake up to no electricity and will be stuck to make breakfast or might not make it home in time to cook supper.

WHAT DOES THE DIFFERENT LOAD SHEDDING STAGES MEAN?

Stage 1: To keep the national grid stable, Eskom needs to shed 1000MW.

Stage 1 is the least disruptive of the schedules. Your area is likely to be hit Three times over a four-day period for 2 hours at a time or Three times over an eight-day period for 4 hours at a time

Stage 2:  To keep the national grid stable, Eskom needs to shed 2000MW

Stage 2 double the amount of the load shedding planned in stage 1 meaning your area is likely to be hit Six times over a four-day period for 2 hours at the time or Six times over an eight-day period for 4 hours at a time.

Stage 3: To keep the national grid stable, Eskom needs to shed at most 4000MW

Stage 3 increased by 50% of the amount of the load shedding planned in stage 2 meaning your area is likely to be hit Nine times over a four-day period for 2 hours at a time or Nine times over an eight-day period for 4 hours at a time.

Stage 4: To keep the national grid stable, Eskom needs to shed at least 4000MW

Stage 4 double the frequency of stage 2, meaning your area is likely to be hit Twelve times over a four-day period for 2 hours at a time or Twelve times over an eight-day period for 4 hours at a time.

The post Tips to prepare for load shedding appeared first on Powertime.

How?

Simply add or save our whatsApp number 0443822484 to your smart phone and refresh your WhatsApp contact list, and you should be able to now send us a message directly to that number!

You can now send us a message or you can send us screen shots of the issue you are experiencing on Android, iOs, Windows mobile and Web as displayed by the images below. So go ahead and test it out! 

Our other support channels include:

Email: support@powertime.co.za

Office line: (021) 911 5611

Messenger: m.me/PowertimeZA

And of course, our live chat feature on our website!

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Hot Water

No-cost

• Use less hot water – Shower instead of bathing, Do not let the hot water run unnecessarily, use cold water to wash your hands instead.
• Turn your geyser down to 60°C. Turning your geyser down from 70˚C to 60˚C will see a 5% reduction in your hot water electricity bill. In some cases, 55°C is a good option (but not below that for health risk reasons)
• Switch off your geyser when you go away for a few days or more and during peak hours.

Low-cost

• Insulate your water pipes and wrap your geyser in a geyser blanket.
• Install a geyser timer.
• Switch to a low-flow, energy and water efficient aerated showerhead
• Fix leaking hot water taps.

Lighting

No-cost

• Turn off the lights if you leave a room for more than five minutes.
• Maximise sunlight. Open the curtains in the morning rather than turning on lights.

low-cost

• Replace traditional incandescent light bulbs with Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)
• Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) remain a somewhat more affordable way to save,
• Use solar powered lights in your garden

Appliances

No-Cost

• Switch off all unused appliances at the wall.
• Only use your washing machine once a full load of dirty laundry has accumulated
• Use cold-water or lower heat settings as often as possible.
• Skip the pre-wash cycle for clothes that aren’t particularly dirty
• Never overload your automatic washing machine
• When using a kettle, boil only as much water as you need

Low-Cost

• Invest in a front-loading washing machine instead of a top loader. It uses less water and costs less to operate
• Have the seals in your fridge replaced to keep the cold air in
• Choose a dishwasher model with a no-heat air-drying feature to save even more electricity, if you can’t use a cloth to dry the dishes or let them drip-dry instead.

The post Save on Electricity This Month appeared first on Powertime.

Dear Powertime Users,

Due to the recent announcement by Payments Association of South African (PASA) increased card fees significantly, users purchasing by the card will incur a 3,5% VAT inclusive fee from the 1st April 2020. We remind our users that Instant EFT and EFT payment do not incur any fees.

Powertime

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Recently, we have been inundated with request about electricity tariffs. Mostly with regards to why certain some users are receiving less units for the same amount in rands than they have previously. For the purposes of budgeting, it would be helpful to know what it cost to run the various appliances in your household. The purpose of this blog is to go into a bit of detail into what exactly an electricity tariff is and how it is measured. We also provide you with a helpful tool to measure how much units you typically use, and this should help you with financial planning with regards to energy spend in your household.

How is electricity measured?

So, how is electricity measured? This is an important question to begin to understand how an electricity tariff works. Electricity power is measured in terms of units, called watts. Most applicances in a household requires well in excess of 1,000 watts in order to function properly, which is why we generally refer to electrical power as kilowatts. Each kilowatt representing 1,000 watts. So how is this calculated? If you take an example of a 100 watt ceiling fan, and use it for two hours a day for 30 days, you have used 100 watts of power for 60 hours.

This calculates as 100 watts x 60 hours = 6000 watt-hours of electrical energy. Or 6 kilowatt-hours (kWh) which is the measurement of electricity units.

What does it mean?

If we look at Eskom’s small customer tariffs (which is most households in South Africa), the electricity used is billed as an energy charge. This is calculated in cents per kilowatt. (c/kWh). Now, this charge (c/kWh) differs per municipality and also differs per household, depending on the tariff they are on. This is a set amount based or determined by how much electricity a house-hold uses. Those who consumes above 600kWh are charged higher tariffs (c/kWh) as those who use below 600 kWh. Remember kWh stands for Kilowatts per Hour, as calculated above

For more a deeper break-down into tariffs, click here

How do I calculate how much my appliances are costing me?

This is where it might become a bit tricky. How do I calculate how much an appliance is costs to operate? Well, once you know which tariff you are on, you need to multiply the amount of kWh a particular appliance uses by the energy rate (c/kWh) applicable to your tariff and divide by 100 to get to the Rand value. So, if we take the above example and use Eskom’s block 1 tariff for residential users, the energy charge is 153,90c/kWh (including VAT) The calculation would be as follows:

6kWh x 153,90c/kWh = 923.4/100= R9.23

So, as we can see in this example, it costs R9,23 to run a 100 watt ceiling fan, 2 hours a day for 30 days. City Power has a very nifty tool that can help you calculate this as well, see this link  for more.

As we know, this is getting costlier every year and it might be time to look at other, more eco-friendly solutions of powering your home.

The post What is an Electricity Tariff? appeared first on Powertime.

Solar Photovoltaic (PV) is a technology that converts sunlight (Solar radiation) into direct current electricity by using semiconductors. When the sun hits the semiconductor within the PV cell, electrons are freed and form an electric current.

Several of these could be completed in nine months, including the 2000MW currently under development at Sibanye stillwater who is the leading international precious metals mining company, with a diverse portfolio of platinum group metal and gold operations and projects.

A presentation by the minerals councils at this year’s Mining Indaba showed that at least seven mining companies are either busy developing or considering potential projects.

1. Vendata: Headquartered in Johannesburg South Africa – is a grouping of Zinc assets located in South Africa, Namibia and Ireland, owned by India Vendata Limited. Vendata plans to add 2000MW of self-generating capacity to its operations in the Northern Cape within the next three years.
2. The Goldfields South Deep Mine: Is located in the Mpumalanga region of South Africa and one of the world’s biggest gold mines. It is also the seventh deepest mine in the world with a depth of 2,995m below the surface. the mining company plans to add 40MW of solar power, supplemented by another 23MW of diesel generation within the next year.
3. Anglo American is another industry heavyweight which plans to add a solar generating plant at one of its mines.

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