Also expect a R275 credit to reflect immediately on your reactivated smart meter account – but its merely on-boarding credit, and not to be confused with a hidden or extra cost or tariff either – to tide you over till you can fuel your own account.
BXC, now a fully “local is lekker” South African-owned company, will recover the pre-load R275 – and only this amount – from subsequent pre-purchases made.
Included in the the big switch-on are those account holders (already with a smart meter installed) owing ELM payments prior to going live or who are in dispute with them already.
According to BXC Project Manager Dawid Dirks, customers will be notified per SMS on switch-over details and timing. All meters and data collectors will be reprogrammed with updated firmware and all relevant tariffs to ensure correct billing.
Customers are also welcome to make a direct appointment with the BXC office in Vanderbijlpark by using 016 100 6170.
Dirks explained the mechanics of migrating from post-paid accounts to pre-paid smart meters:
“When we transfer customers to pre-paid we close the post-paid account on that date (in this case target from 1 August to 18 August 2022 for Extension One, Three Rivers).
“Amounts still in arrears with ELM will still be with ELM and they will deal separately with the customer in recovering the outstanding funds but it will NOT be through your smart meter,” said Dirks.
Dirks added that technically the smart meter did have the capability to recover arrears (as seen with the kick-off R275 bridging credit) as a percentage of pre-paid purchases but this could only be done with the consent of the customer in future.
But this feature would not be used at all in this period, Dirks emphasised.
All ELM customers in Extension One are urged to register immediately on the BXC on-line portal to ensure all their details are correct and to facilitate migration to pre-paid smart meter.
Go to https://bxcsa.co.za/global/
This portal will ultimately be used by all smart meter customers throughout Emfuleni but any customer is welcome to already check their details, said Dirks.
