Prepaid Electricity. Eskom

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Dinah Gaines
6 years ago
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1 Prepaid Electricity Prepaid Electricity (PPE) The end customer buys an electricity token using their meter number which has a unique token number assigned to the meter number used. The token number is then entered in the electricity meter which updates the number of kilowatt-hours (units) on the meter. Eskom All electricity in South Africa comes from one supplier which is Eskom, but there is a difference in the types of electricity supplied by Eskom. Eskom is divided into two categories: Eskom Wholesale this is reserved for municipalities and other large entities that purchase bulk electricity. Eskom Retail this is direct to consumers who have meters which are installed and maintained by Eskom. Municipal Electricity This is electricity that comes direct from the municipalities that we have direct vending agreements with. The municipality put out a tender for a 3 rd party prepaid electricity vending, then companies will tender for and if the tender is successful, the company would sign an agreement with the municipality and supply electricity on behalf of the municipality. Suppliers A supplier supplies goods or a service. We have suppliers who supply us with electricity for the areas where we do not have authority to vend electricity. These suppliers have been awarded vending licenses which allows them to choose who they would like to the vending in the areas on behalf of them and the municipalities they supply. Private Metering Companies Private metering companies install prepaid meters for tenants to individually measure their electricity usage and ensuring that they stay connected taking the responsibility away from the property owner. The private metering company would control the data base of the meters and direct the tenant to the closest point where tenants can purchase their electricity.

Types of Meters STS Meter (enter the token on these meters to load the electricity you purchased) Mag Card Meter (instead of receiving a voucher with a token number user will

Grinpal & IMS Meters (purchase a voucher and get a receipt however there s no token number on the voucher. The electricity is loaded directly in the meter via the power lines.

2 Types of Meters STS Meter (enter the token on these meters to load the electricity you purchased) Mag Card Meter (instead of receiving a voucher with a token number user will receive a card which has a magnetic strip) the user will insert the card into the card slot on the meter for it to recharge. Grinpal & IMS Meters (purchase a voucher and get a receipt however there s no token number on the voucher. The electricity is loaded directly in the meter via the power lines. Systems CAPS Cigicell system. All municipalities are signed up on CAPS system and all electricity goes via CAPS with an exception of municipalities who have a direct link into the suppliers. AEON would integrate into CAPS in order to get electricity.

Electricity Token Below is an example of the electricity token with the codes TT- Token Technology Identifies whether the meter is an STS meter or mag card meter.

3 Electricity Token Below is an example of the electricity token with the codes TT- Token Technology Identifies whether the meter is an STS meter or mag card meter. O1 means mag card meter and 02 means STS meter ALG Algorith Meter box is programmed with TI Tariff Index Refers to the tariff price plan the customer is on KRN Key revision number code that the meter box is programmed with SGC Supply Group code these codes identifies who the service provider is e.g. City Power, Eskom etc

Free Basic Token This is where the free basic electricity (FBE) token shows This where the normal electricity token shows Pre-vend is used to check that the correct meter number is used for the

4 Free Basic Token This is where the free basic electricity (FBE) token shows This where the normal electricity token shows Pre-vend is used to check that the correct meter number is used for the correct user. Some municipalities collect outstanding arrears via the electricity account and pre-vends indicate the amount due, before user purchases the voucher. This transaction can be cancelled and will not be charged. Re-prints and Duplicate Tokens The reprint option is used when a customer loses their voucher and requests a copy of the token. The reprint can also be done when the terminal gets suspended due to a faulty signal issue or loses connection. ( the terminal should be suspended before doing another token, as both vouchers will be charged for) A duplicate token occurs when the terminal issues a voucher that was sold previously.

UniPIN is a prepaid electricity vended offline and the consumer can convert it into an online sale at his or her convenience. How to redeem UniPIN voucher?

belongs to, display the pre-vend in case of arrears collection and collects the token number from the relevant utility.

5 UniPIN is a prepaid electricity vended offline and the consumer can convert it into an online sale at his or her convenience. How to redeem UniPIN voucher? The end customer will send a USSD request by dialing *120*41589*pinnumber*meternumber# The message will then be sent to the short code and the UniPIN Manager works out which utility the end customer belongs to, display the pre-vend in case of arrears collection and collects the token number from the relevant utility. The consumer will enter this token number on the meter and the credit will be registered in a case where STS meter is used. In a case of IMS direct top up meters, the end customer will receive receipt via SMS. The UniPIN voucher process Pin creation and redemption platform Token is sent back to CigiCell server Token is sent to SMS platform UniPin Purchased (via cellphone, credit card/bank transfer A standard online vending request is sent to Polokwane server End customer receives token via SMS from CigiCell Pin and meter number sent via SMS by end customer Received SMS is processed by CigiCell server End customer loads token on the meter

6 UniPIN vend in the following utilities, banks and corporate retailers: Corporate Retail Bank Petroleum Eskom SPAR Nedbank ATM Engen Ekurhuleni Cash Express ATM Shell SA ethekwini ABSA ATM Sasol Tshwane BP Express Kokstad Lekwa Mbombela Ba-Phalaborwa Madibeng Bela Bela Polokwane Musina Thaba Chweu Overcharging This is when a vendor charges client more for electricity than the amount on the token. This is not tolerated by Eskom or any. This is regarded as fraud and any vendor found to be doing this will be switch off immediately, blacklisted and would not be allowed to vend prepaid electricity even if they should change suppliers. Ghost CDU These are terminals called cash dispensing unit (CDU), they were the market before Eskom awarded 3 rd party vending and could sell prepaid electricity tokens. Eskom uplifted these terminals when they awarded 3 rd party vending, however some of these terminals are still in the market and can still issue an Eskom token as they have the SGC codes of the meter numbers. These terminals are illegal and if found please report this to Eskom on their fraud line.

7 Merchant Electricity Query Tips: Where merchants have issued replacement tokens to end customers without logging a query first, and then requesting a refund from Cigicell after the fact only to find that after checking do Cigicell find out that nothing was wrong with the token or that they never took the step tariff into account etc. o Under no circumstances should a merchant issue a replacement without Cigicell s authorisation. Any merchant requesting a refund for a token that they issued without consent will not be credited or binned If the token did not print due to a network or power failure or the terminal freezes, the store must do a reprint immediately before issuing a new token. If a token is queried due to these errors, Cigicell will check if the merchant tried a reprint first. If no reprint was done, no credits will be issued. Only vouchers that were sold in the last 3 months will be accepted for query resolution. Any vouchers older than 3 months will not be acted upon. Contact Details for Support SMS your voucher serial number and query to support@myunipin.co.za for UniPIN related queries cigicellsupport@bltelecoms.net for all electricity

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