Eskom has started installing smart meters in Sandton and Midrand‚ with 5‚932 meters installed between January and March this year.
The conversions of the meters to prepayment will resume in July‚ once Eskom has upgraded its online vending system‚ the power utility says.
Eskom has made a strategic decision to convert all of its conventionally billed customers to prepaid meters.
It says this project will enhance its revenue which is an important focus area to support its financial sustainability efforts.
“Customers are encouraged to convert from their conventional meters to the prepaid billing mode as it has several benefits such as improved reliability‚ reduction of public safety incidents and better management of energy consumption. More importantly‚ the days of billing errors will be a thing of the past‚” the electricity provider says.
In Sandton and Midrand‚ the plan is to have all 32‚885 of its domestic customers with smart meters installed and converted to prepaid meters by the end of the 2016/17 financial year.
“In Soweto we have installed over 40‚000 split prepaid meters and converted over 13‚000 to prepaid mode. Consequently‚ Eskom has already seen a R33.63-million improvement of revenue collection in Soweto after it installed and converted customers to split prepaid meters. The figure is cumulative from July 2014 up to 28 February 2016.”
Source: Eskom installs almost 6‚000 smart meters in Sandton and Midrand