Niël Terblanché
Thousands of electricity consumers risk being left in the dark unless they update their prepaid meters in time for the 24 November deadline for the Token Identifier (TID) rollover.
The TID rollover resets prepaid electricity meters to accept new credit tokens.
Failure to update the meters before this Sunday will result in electricity distributors’ inability to process payments, leaving households and businesses without power.
The looming challenge stems from the nature of the technology underpinning prepaid meters, which rely on a 20-digit token identifier to validate and process credit tokens.
The identifier mechanism operates on a 31-year cycle and will expire globally on 24 November.
Namibia, like its neighbour South Africa, is grappling with the complexities of this transition, with tens of thousands of meters yet to be updated.
So far only 85.7% of meters have been updated.
According to the Electricity Control Board (ECB), the rollout of updates is in progress, but a substantial number of consumers have yet to ensure compliance.
The ECB has been vocal about the urgency of the situation, stressing the need for customers to act promptly.
“We do not want anyone to be left in the dark come 24 November,” reads a statement from the ECB.
The ECB has been working in close collaboration with regional electricity distributors, such as Erongo RED, to facilitate the updates.
Erongo RED, the electricity distributor for the Erongo region, has been proactive in its approach.
It launched its TID rollover campaign months ago, urging customers to check the status of their prepaid meters and schedule updates where necessary.
According to Benjamin Nangombe, the spokesperson of Erongo RED, the process is straightforward and can be completed quickly.
He said that more than 99% of pre-paid meters in the region have been updated and added that only meters on unoccupied properties still have to be updated.
However, in the rest of Namibia, the scale of the problem is evident when considering the latest statistics provided by the ECB on its social media platforms.
Cenored, which distributes electricity in parts of the Otjozondjupa, Kunene, Omaheke, and Oshikoto regions, still has more than 3800 unregistered meters.
This is according to the company spokesperson Charles Matengu.
“If these meters are not updated by 24 November, residents will be forced to buy new meters unless the company managing the software extends the deadline,” Matengu said.
The company achieved a 99.43% update rate.
He said many meters are untraceable and some have been inactive for years.
“There are meters that we don’t even know exist. Some may have been replaced by the local authorities, which had the responsibility to distribute electricity before the establishment of the REDs and the meters were never erased from the system,” he said.
He added that the project also uncovered instances of illegal electricity connections.
According to Matengu, upon visiting households and businesses to update the meters, the Cenored teams discovered a significant number of meters bypassed.
“Those customers were given fines that they had to settle before we reconnected them, and this might have discouraged others from coming forward to have their meters changed,” he said.
