City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said that the entity is aware of criminals using counterfeit meter reading credentials to enter residential homes to rob unsuspecting customers.
He urged customers to report suspicious activities such as being asked to pay for meter resetting service, when people at their doorsteps are not wearing Token Identifier (TID) branded clothing and have no ID cards
“To ensure that they don’t fall prey to this crime, customers may verify the TID agents’ credentials by calling the number reflected on their branded bibs or valid ID cards. As this service is provided at no cost, customers are cautioned not to pay for TID meter resetting.”
This followed after the entity gave customers more control over upgrading their prepaid meters to the new TID programme. The new self-service initiative lets customers recode their prepaid meters themselves.
“This do-it-yourself (DIY) approach is to fast-track the rollover of the programme in our supply areas and get all prepaid meters converted by the November 24, 2024, deadline. It’s important to note that without this upgrade, customers will no longer be able to buy their electricity units after the November deadline.”
Previously, prepaid meter upgrades required access to customer homes, but security concerns sometimes made this difficult resulting in conversion delays. With the DIY recoding process, the rollover will be more convenient for the customers to recode their prepaid meters before the deadline.
“We urge customers to load previously purchased electricity units into their meters before recoding. Once recoded, the meter will not accept these units.”
Customers in the Randburg Service Delivery Centre (SDC) supply areas can conveniently recode their meters themselves. However, City Power authorised technicians will also be available to assist anyone having trouble with meter recoding.
The electronic process of upgrading meters will be active in the following areas under the Randburg SDC, after which customers can then recode themselves with ease:
- Bromhof – May 16 and 23 to 18 and 24
- Juskei Park – May 20 to 22
- Boskruin – May 27 to 29.
“Meanwhile, we still appeal to customers to grant our teams access to their properties for meter auditing. The teams are easily identifiable, as they wear yellow TID-branded bibs or T-shirts and carry valid ID cards with their photo, name, and surname, as well as an expiry date,” added Mangena.
For support during this period, City Power’s contact centre is available on 0800 202925 or 011 490 7484. Randburg SDC customer desks are also available to assist customers during the programme rollout.
Related article: City Power introduces DIY method for the token identifier programme
