City Power has extended the deadline for converting non-vending prepaid meters to postpaid billing, giving affected households six months to comply with the new system. The move targets households that are not purchasing electricity, often due to meter tampering or bypassing, as the utility seeks to recover lost revenue. The utility’s spokesperson, Isaac Mangena, said the extension would allow customers more time to address outstanding issues.
“The conversion process, which was initially scheduled to conclude at the end of December 2025, has now been extended to 30 June 2026,” Mangena said. He explained that the additional time was meant to help affected customers regularise their electricity supply, cooperate with ongoing meter audits, and engage with City Power to resolve billing and vending problems. The conversion is part of the utility’s broader strategy to reduce revenue losses and address persistent issues across its network.
Mangena noted that the intervention remains part of its efforts to curb revenue losses, address illegal connections and tampered meters, and improve billing accuracy across the system. “Since assuming the billing function, we have been hard at work stabilising and improving the billing system and methods to enhance customer experience and close historical revenue gaps caused by billing inefficiencies,” Mangena said. He added that the prepaid-to-postpaid conversion is one of several interventions to address widespread billing inaccuracies that have generated numerous customer complaints and escalations.
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Households with solar photovoltaic installations currently using prepaid meters will not be exempt from the conversion process. Mangena said these customers would also transition to postpaid accounts to ensure proper monitoring of their electricity usage and generation.
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