JOHANNESBURG– Eskom has recouped almost R40 million in Soweto following the conversion of homes and businesses to prepaid electricity meters, this up to the period ending in June. Eskom has installed over 41,628 split meters and converted 24,746 to prepaid in Soweto, with plans to accelerate the roll-out of prepaid meters still underway.
Converting to prepaid will help businesses and households save on meter readings and reduce errors, resulting from the need to bill the customer, as well as better consumption control by the customer which will give a certainty around monthly costs for the customer.
“Eskom has already seen a R39 million improvement of revenue collection in Soweto over a year-long period after it installed and converted customers to split prepaid meters,” the power utility said in a statement.
Eskom said Soweto has approximately 181,000 customers, 65 percent of whom were customers who were on a conventionally-billed metering system and the remainder on conventional prepaid metering system. Soweto owes Eskom an estimated R4 billion in debt, while illegal connections cost Eskom about R2 billion a year in lost revenue.
The power utility said the conversions of the meters had also resulted in a gradual increase in sales. Currently, Eskom is installing prepaid meters in Sandton, Midrand, Soweto, Kagiso and other areas around Gauteng in a bid to enable revenue collection and address Eskom’s debt collection challenges.
– ANA
