Eskom ‘saddened’ by death of man while waiting to update prepaid meter

Eskom has expressed condolences on the death of a man who was waiting to update his prepaid meter ahead of this weekend’s deadline.

Hundreds of Soweto residents scurried to upgrade their meters on Thursday, forming massive queues as hot weather enveloped parts of Gauteng.

Collapse

But waiting turned to tragedy when a man standing in line at an Eskom pop-up centre in Orlando East Community Hall simply collapsed.

“We just saw him fall down. We thought he fainted but unfortunately, he died on the spot. It happened around 4am. Just 20 minutes after he arrived, he collapsed,” an eyewitness told broadcaster Newzroom Afrika.

Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena told The Citizen the utility has noted with “deep sadness the passing of a customer.”

“These pop-up offices were established to manage the recent high volumes of customers needing assistance with the Key Revision Number (KRN) rollover project before the 24 November 2024 deadline.

“Eskom would like to offer its sincere condolences to the family of the deceased,” Mokwena said.

Police said no investigation into the death has been initiated.

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Deadline

With the Sunday deadline fast approaching, more than two million people have yet to upgrade their meters.

During a media briefing on Wednesday, Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa warned that no extension would be given, saying those who failed to upgrade key revision number 1 (KRN) on their prepaid meters by Sunday would be left without power and forced to pay to replace their meters.

He said the 4.9 million customers who had upgraded their meters were subsidising the remaining 2.1 million.

Eskom has more than 6.9-million prepaid clients and said customers could pay up to R12 000 for a replacement meter.

The utility has managed to reduce the backlog of electricity prepaid meter upgrades by at least 400,000 in 24 hours.

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