Residents illegally connected to power grid to pay R6,000 to have prepaid metres upgraded

JOHANNESBURG - People who are illegally connected to the electricity grid will have to pay R6,000 as a penalty in order to have their prepaid meters upgraded. 

This amount has been split into 12 payments of R500 per month to ease the burden.

As of Sunday, all electricity prepaid meters in the country will stop working if they have not been upgraded.

The upgrade falls in line with a global technical switchover from one operating system to another.

Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa explained the penalty fees.

"The R500 generally that people are referring to is a penalty that is levied to people who have connected illegally and to make it easy, it is R500 per month."