Chronicle Editor
Tracy Chidhakwa, Harare Bureau
CONSUMERS who do not timeously upgrade their electricity prepaid meters risk plunging into darkness as the gadgets will cease functioning later this year, the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) has warned.
The current generation of prepaid meters uses software with a built-in date limit of November 24, 2024.
After that date, the meters will no longer recognise new tokens, effectively cutting off power supply to homes and businesses still relying on outdated technology.
ZETDC acting public relations officer Ms Alaina Suliwa said: “ZETDC embarked on the prepaid meter upgrade exercise on November 17, 2023, starting with a pilot of a few selected areas across all regions.”
The pilot project covered areas under North district (Harare Region); Mutare district (Eastern Region); Bulawayo East district (Western Region); Gweru district (Southern Region); and Kadoma and Chinhoyi districts (Northern Region).
“In total, 85 percent of the installed meters in these areas were successfully upgraded. The remaining 15 percent being non-TID (token identifier)-compliant meters that the utility will change at no cost to the client.”
TID is the system used by prepaid meters to determine the authenticity of a recharge token. In November, the memory on this system will lapse and prepaid meters will not be able to accept recharge tokens.
The exercise, Ms Suliwa said, was then rolled out to the rest of the country on December 18.
“The upgrade is done as part of compliance to the requirements by the STS (Standard Transfer Specification) system for prepaid meters, which states that all power utilities using this system the world over have to do the upgrades by November 24, 2024 to enable their meters to continue accepting tokens. Any prepaid meter that is not upgraded by this date will not accept tokens. Hence, upgrading ensures uninterrupted recharging service to our valued customers and also comes with enhanced security features for the meter.”
STS is an internationally recognised standard that defines a secure and consistent way to transfer credit tokens from vending systems to various types of prepaid meters, ensuring interoperability between different manufacturers’ equipment.
It uses a secure messaging protocol to protect sensitive information during token transfers.
ZETDC commercial director Engineer Ralph Katsande said: “The programme, which began with few selected areas in its first phase, is now officially being rolled out nationally.
“This desire for us to do more is a direct result of decades of trust our customers have in us to protect what they value most and we take great pride in that heritage and customers’ trust.”
How to upgrade a prepaid meter.
Upon purchasing electricity, customers receive a set of three 20-digit token codes. The first set of two token codes are the key change tokens. The last one is the credit token. Key change token codes are unique sets of numbers used to update the internal software of prepaid electricity meters. The codes are entered into the meter in the order in which they are provided. Once you have entered the token codes, your meter should confirm the upgrade.
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