140,000 prepaid meters have been tampered with, coding upgrade shows

25 October 2024 - 13:27 By TimesLIVE
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Electricity pre-paid meters need to be recoded, says Johannesburg City Power. File image
Electricity pre-paid meters need to be recoded, says Johannesburg City Power. File image
Image: ALAN EASON

Johannesburg City Power has discovered about 140,000 prepaid electricity meters that have been bypassed by customers to avoid payment.

The tampering was revealed as all meters need to be recoded with a software upgrade by November 24, after which those which are not compliant will no longer accept tokens.

The Token Identifier System is a security measure that ensures a token can only be used once and on the meter number it was purchased for.

City Power said this week 99% of its “vending customers meters” have already undergone the conversion.

TimesLIVE


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