Some customers last purchased electricity in 2018: Ramokgopa

Minister of Electricity and Energy Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says most of the customers who did not come forward to upgrade their meter numbers by the end of the deadline, are people who have not been buying electricity.

Ramokgopa was briefing the media in Cape Town on the progress made regarding the process of recoding meter numbers.

Eskom has since extended the deadline for this process to be completed by the 13th of December.

VIDEO | Some customers experienced technical glitches during their attempts to recode their meters. 

Ramokgopa says some of the Eskom customers have told him that the last time they bought electricity was in 2018.

“I want to make the point. We are going to call it for what it is. The victims. The people who should be burning the fires outside. These are people who are paying. I have walked the queues like I always do, trying to understand what the problem is. Soweto is the ground zero of this challenge. I spoke to more than 100 people individually, it is on record. They tell me, ‘My son the last time I bought electricity was in 2018’. The projection that is there is the evil SOE that is called Eskom. ‘No, my son, I have got a naughty grandson, he just disconnected me. I apologise’. So, that’s what we are dealing with. I want to repeat members [of the media], anyone who bought electricity legally in the past six months is not in the queue.”

VIDEO | Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa’s briefing on the process of upgrading meters.