Prepaid meter in arrears

[Ansley]

How is it possible for one's prepaid meter to be in arrears when you have to pay before you can use, been trying to buy yet i'm being told i am in arrears

[Scorp007]

On 2024/08/02 at 2:10 PM, Ansley said:

How is it possible for one's prepaid meter to be in arrears when you have to pay before you can use, been trying to buy yet i'm being told i am in arrears

Various reasons. The most common is as a property owner some other services like rates or water or refuse can be behind. 

[Toxxyc]

On 2024/08/02 at 2:10 PM, Ansley said:

How is it possible for one's prepaid meter to be in arrears when you have to pay before you can use, been trying to buy yet i'm being told i am in arrears

Chances are it's not your prepaid meter that's in arrears, it is the municipal account that is in arrears.  They are connected.

So if you didn't pay your municipal bill and your payment period lapses, your prepaid electricity is affected.  It happened to me once when I just bought a house and payments were made to an unallocated account.  You can still buy prepaid electricity (units), but 60% of the money is taken and put on the municipal account that is in arrears.

So, for example, your outstanding municipal account is in arrears with R1,000.  You buy R1,000's worth of electricity, but on your bill, you'll notice that R600 of that is being marked as "arrears" and you'll only receive electricity for the remaining R400.

Now your municipal account is in arrears with R400 only.  Next time you buy R1,000's worth of electricity, your bill will read the remaining R400 being used for the arrears, and you'll receive electricity for the remaining R600.

[system32]

On 2024/08/02 at 2:10 PM, Ansley said:

How is it possible for one's prepaid meter to be in arrears when you have to pay before you can use, been trying to buy yet i'm being told i am in arrears

New CoJ R230 per month fixed fee on prepaid will put you into arrears.

[Bobster.]

On 2024/08/02 at 2:10 PM, Ansley said:

How is it possible for one's prepaid meter to be in arrears when you have to pay before you can use, been trying to buy yet i'm being told i am in arrears

I live in Johannesburg. Every time I buy prepaid units via my banking app I am warned that if my account is in arrears then the City may offset the payment amount against the arrears.

Also there is, since July this year, a flat fee of R200 plus VAT per pre-paid meter (unless the City has ruled that you are an indigent person). If you buy less than R400 of electricity then they will take half of the amount for R200 (or the balance for the month), and the rest will go to VAT and units. The R200 charge is added each month and any shortfall is rolled over, so if you don't buy for one month, the fee will be R200 for the current month, plus R200 for the previous month, plus VAT IE R460. 

You don't say where you live and who supplies your electricity, but the fixed charge is becoming more common. Check your tariff tables carefully.

I buy my units (City Power) via the FNB app. I get quite a lot of detail, including a warning that the City may deduct arrears (on my account, not necessarily for electricity) from the purchase amount. I also get a detailed response showing exactly how the amount I just paid was allocated. People who buy at supermarkets may not get this level of detail.