Long queues as Eskom meter upgrade deadline approaches

GroundUp has been monitoring the queues outside Eskom Louis Trichardt office since the week ending 8 November. Every day there are long lines of people, some from surrounding villages such as Elim, Valdezia, and Kutama Sinthumule. Photo: Bernard Chiguvare

Elderly pensioners wrapped in blankets sit on the cold pavement outside Eskom’s Louis Trichardt offices. They have come to upgrade their electricity meters before the 24 November deadline. After that date, meters that have not been upgraded will no longer accept electricity tokens.

On Thursday morning GroundUp found more than 170 customers queuing. Some said they had to return more than once. Basic facilities are lacking. Two elderly women were seen urinating against the office’s concrete walls due to the lack of toilets.

Annah Manganye, 68, from Valdezia, 40km away, arrived at 6:30am and was 172nd in line. “If I don’t get served today, I won’t come back because I don’t have transport money,” she said.

The office, which serves residents from surrounding villages, including Elim, Valdenzhia and Kutama Sinthumule, has three staff members. Eskom manager Netshavheni Nenguda said, “When we started this programme last year, most customers didn’t visit to upgrade their meters. Now with the cutoff date approaching, the numbers are increasing.”

He said the office was committed to serving everyone in the queue the same day.

Patric Sikhtshi, chairperson of the Zoutpansberg Community Development Forum, has called for an extension of the deadline. “The process is very slow, and not many customers are served per day,” he said.

But Eskom’s website says there will be no extension.

To upgrade there should be no need to go to Eskom offices. But customers appear to be struggling.

Eskom customers should first check their meter’s status by entering a code. If an upgrade is needed, they must obtain Key Change Tokens from vendors and follow a three-step process to enter the new codes.

In response to the issues with the new electricity meter system, Eskom referred GroundUp to its website that explained the process (see below).

Nenguda advised customers to carefully follow the instructions when entering their token numbers.

“Customers should always begin with the set of numbers labeled as number 1. This is not necessarily the top set of numbers on the slip, so they need to check the labels carefully. Once entered in the correct order, the electricity should load automatically,” he explained.

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