Prepaid meter problems: tokens that fail, meters that stay dark, and what to do

A prepaid meter is a small computer with a power supply, and it fails in a handful of predictable ways. Knowing which failure you have decides who fixes it and how quickly.

1. The token will not load

Cause	What to check
Token already used	Check the meter’s last-purchase record - most meters show the last few tokens or a rejection code
Wrong meter	Match the meter number on the receipt to the one on the meter
Mistyped digits	Retry slowly, once
Meter locked	Too many failed entries can lock a meter; the distributor must clear it
Wrong input sequence	Some meters require the token in a specific order, often with a preceding key sequence

The rule that matters: do not keep entering a failed token. Many meters lock after a small number of rejected entries, and unlocking requires the distributor.

2. The purchase never arrived

This happens most often when the vending system is offline at the point of sale - a common occurrence during high-demand periods, which is also when people most need electricity.

What to do:

1. Keep the receipt. It carries the transaction reference and the meter number, and it is the only thing that lets the distributor trace the purchase.
2. Contact the entity you bought from - the municipality or Eskom - not the shop or the bank. They sold the electricity; they trace the transaction.
3. Do not buy again immediately in the hope of resolving it. A second purchase can complicate the reconciliation of the first.

If you bought through a bank app or a retailer, the receipt is usually in the app, and the same rule applies: the distributor traces it.

3. The meter stays dark after load shedding

Two different situations:

• Neighbours also dark - the supply has not been restored, or it is a local fault. Report it; faults do not resolve by waiting.
• Neighbours on, you dark - either the meter has not reset, or there is a local fault on your connection.

Allow a few minutes after the scheduled restore time before concluding anything, because some meters take a moment to initialise. If the meter displays but no power flows, that is a meter or supply issue for the distributor.

4. Error codes

Error codes are model-specific. A generic code table from a website is frequently wrong for the meter in question, which is why the useful step is to give the distributor the meter model and the code, and to consult the manual that came with the installation.

Never treat a code as an instruction to open the meter.

Preventing the avoidable problems

• Buy before you are desperate. Buying at the last minute means buying during peak demand, when vending systems are most likely to be under strain.
• Register for a vending notification where your distributor offers it, so you know when the units land.
• Keep the meter number somewhere other than the meter. If the meter fails completely and the number is only on the meter, recovery takes longer.
• Track your unit consumption against the stage. Higher load shedding stages do not increase consumption, but longer outages do change how you use appliances on restoration - and knowing your normal monthly usage makes an anomalous meter reading obvious.

Where to escalate

Your distributor is the first, second and usually sufficient route: the municipality’s electricity department, or Eskom if you buy from Eskom directly. Getting a reference number is the single most useful thing you can do, because it turns a conversation into a case.

Where a distributor is unresponsive, NERSA’s consumer affairs function exists for exactly that. The load shedding context - stages, blocks and schedules - is covered in the load shedding schedules guide.

Last reviewed 13 October 2026. Meter models, error codes and vending arrangements differ by distributor; confirm the process with your own municipality or Eskom.