City Power has dismissed claims circulating on social media and community platforms that households with prepaid electricity meters and installed solar PV systems will be forced to convert to post-paid billing within a fixed six-month period.
The claims, which have gained traction following recent City Power communications on prepaid meter conversions and non-vending accounts, suggest that solar-equipped households will face higher fixed monthly charges and that prepaid meters will no longer be permitted where solar systems are installed.
“City Power has not announced a blanket or arbitrary policy requiring prepaid customers with solar PV installations to convert to post-paid billing within a fixed timeframe,” Isaac Mangena, General Manager of the City Power Department of Public Relations and Communications, told Energize.
Mangena said the issue relates to grid export rather than solar ownership. According to City Power, standard prepaid meters are not technically designed to measure bi-directional electricity flows where power is imported from and exported to the grid. Customers who generate electricity and export excess power, therefore, require post-paid, bi-directional meters.
“These meters enable accurate measurement of imported and exported energy, transparent billing and proper settlement,” Mangena said. Such meters are also required for future programmes that would allow customers to sell excess electricity back to the grid, he added.
City Power said the requirement is driven by technical and operational considerations rather than revenue recovery. “This approach is not intended to discourage customers from investing in solar PV systems,” Mangena said, adding that embedded generation forms part of the utility’s broader strategy to address national energy challenges.
The clarification follows City Power’s announcement that it has extended the suspension of prepaid meter conversions while a task team reviews issues including non-vending customers, account discrepancies and the impact of prepaid tariff structures, which excluded fixed service and network charges until July 2024.
However, concerns among consumers and opposition parties persist. “Residents are unsettled by what they perceive as shifting requirements and limited clarity around who may be affected,” Tyrell Meyers, Democratic Alliance Johannesburg shadow MMC for Environment, Infrastructure and Services told Energize.
Meyers said many households invested in solar systems in response to unreliable electricity supply and rising costs, and now fear that compliance changes could alter the cost structures they rely on for budgeting.
He noted that, while City Power describes meter inspections as routine, their visibility has contributed to a perception among some residents that solar users are being singled out – even if this is not the utility’s stated intention.
City Power reiterated that it conducts routine technical inspections and compliance checks as part of standard network management and revenue protection processes, and stressed that these are not punitive.
“No solar-specific fixed charge increases or tariff changes have been approved. Customers with solar PV systems continue to be billed under existing, approved tariffs,” Mangena said.
