Hi all, so yesterday Tshwane came and installed a prepaid meter at my house. I bought R400 worth of electricity through my banking app and it gave me 130kw. So it cost R3.07 per kilowatt. Is that the going rate? It seems a bit pricey to me?

Then my next question is about the flaging or blocking of the meter. My solar system actually runs my house pretty well. In the last 5 months I have only used 40kw from grid. I have heard that if your meter is not loaded with power monthly they flag you for investigation. Or just block the meter.

Does anyone know what the minimum amount you can load per month to avoid this?

Thanks all

Tshwane prices excluding vat per kwh.

applies to pre and postpaid.

stepped tariff per month, the more units used a month the higher the price per unit as you then move to the next most expensive tariff.

if you buy power and load it in the prepaid meter, it accumulates your units, if not used. So just buy maybe the cheapest units, the first 100 kWh for about R320 (incl vat) and load on your meter, they will accumulate and for days where there is little solar you can then use the units accumulated over time. This should also reduce the risk of being flagged.

remember to add vat to fugues in the table attached and also that the vat rate will go up? Possibly from april2025? By 0.5 percent?

2 minutes ago, Arandoza said:

Tshwane prices excluding vat per kwh.

applies to pre and postpaid.

stepped tariff per month, the more units used a month the higher the price per unit as you then move to the next most expensive tariff.

if you buy power and load it in the prepaid meter, it accumulates your units, if not used. So just buy maybe the cheapest units, the first 100 kWh for about R320 (incl vat) and load on your meter, they will accumulate and for days where there is little solar you can then use the units accumulated over time. This should also reduce the risk of being flagged.

remember to add vat to fugues in the table attached and also that the vat rate will go up? Possibly from april2025? By 0.5 percent?

Thank you, really appreciate this!

5 hours ago, johnna said:

Hi all, so yesterday Tshwane came and installed a prepaid meter at my house. I bought R400 worth of electricity through my banking app and it gave me 130kw. So it cost R3.07 per kilowatt. Is that the going rate? It seems a bit pricey to me?

Then my next question is about the flaging or blocking of the meter. My solar system actually runs my house pretty well. In the last 5 months I have only used 40kw from grid. I have heard that if your meter is not loaded with power monthly they flag you for investigation. Or just block the meter.

Does anyone know what the minimum amount you can load per month to avoid this?

Thanks all

With your low use I think you can throttle down the monthly buying to something like R25 per month. I do know some munics want to see you buying every month and others at least once every 3 months. I have been buying about R180 per month since they installed my prepaid in Tshwane in Sep 2024.

1 hour ago, Scorp007 said:

With your low use I think you can throttle down the monthly buying to something like R25 per month. I do know some munics want to see you buying every month and others at least once every 3 months. I have been buying about R180 per month since they installed my prepaid in Tshwane in Sep 2024.

Thank you!

Hi, please explain to me why my power usage on prepaid spikes severely as follows:

10 June -18 kwh. 11 June - 23 kwh, 12 June- 20 kwh, 13 June - 16 kwh, 14-19kwh, 15-20 kwh,16-23 kwh, 17 June - 60 kwh, 18 June - 25 kwh, 19 June 24 kwh and today, 20 June 69 kwh. No usage merits the two severe spikes that is reflected here. Please explain to me how it is possible.

On 2025/06/20 at 8:05 PM, Fraancois said:

Hi, please explain to me why my power usage on prepaid spikes severely as follows:

10 June -18 kwh. 11 June - 23 kwh, 12 June- 20 kwh, 13 June - 16 kwh, 14-19kwh, 15-20 kwh,16-23 kwh, 17 June - 60 kwh, 18 June - 25 kwh, 19 June 24 kwh and today, 20 June 69 kwh. No usage merits the two severe spikes that is reflected here. Please explain to me how it is possible.

In order to try and help - what make, size or model inverter are you using?

What make and model of prepaid meter is installed?

In which area do you reside?

Sorry for all the questions :)

21 hours ago, Scorp007 said:

In order to try and help - what make, size or model inverter are you using?

What make and model of prepaid meter is installed?

In which area do you reside?

Sorry for all the questions :)

I second this - we need more information before we can come to any conclusion… was your inverter set to charge batteries from the grid? Was your geyser used more than normal?