By Emmanuel Simpokolwe:
Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) has asked electricity users in the country to upgrade their prepaid electricity meters or risk failure to load electricity tokens from November next year.
Escom Chief Operations Officer Maxwell Mulimakwenda disclosed this on Friday in Lilongwe.
Escom rolled out a Token Identifier project in June this year with the aim of upgrading the software of prepaid electricity meters in compliance with the new international requirements for transfer of electricity prepayment tokens.
According to Mulimakwenda, customers should take the project seriously if they are to continue using electricity beyond November next year.
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He said they have rolled out in all districts after they have managed to upgrade prepaid meters in the major cities of Blantyre, Lilongwe, Zomba and Mzuzu.
“We are asking each and every customer to take this project seriously and those that we have skipped in those four cities must notify the corporation urgently to avoid inconveniences,” he said.
Ethel Musopole, a resident of area 36 in Lilongwe, said so far she has not seen any difference in the usage of the tokens.
“There was misinformation that after the configuration of the meters, the usage of electricity would be high or expensive but that’s not what I am experiencing; it’s just the same as before,” she said.
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Another customer Mcloyd Chimpeni, who operates a maize mill, said people should not be afraid.
“The good thing is that it doesn’t take time for Escom officials to configure the meter and the new system is user friendly,” he said.
The project is expected to be completed by June next year and the next prepaid meter software upgrade will take place in 2045
