Even though the concept was not developed in Africa, power utility Eskom is viewed as the pioneer when it comes to massive deployment of PPMs. It was the first utility worldwide to start a large-scale roll-out of PPMs on a national basis.
Today, Eskom confirms there are about ten-million PPMs installed in South Africa. Other emerging markets are drawing on the South African experience to gain knowledge on prepaid electricity, as the country has enhanced the technology and developed standards for manufacturers, even developing a local industry that exports its products.
In a press statement, the City of Cape Town announced that it will replace some 100,000 existing analogue electricity meters with prepaid electricity meters to eliminate estimated energy billing.
The challenges faced by the installation of Prepaid Meters process.
Despite the challenges including a lack of funding and regulatory frameworks to support the deployment of prepaid electricity meters, utilities in South Africa have recorded an increase in the number of prepaid meter tampering incidents especially in the township areas