How do you pay for electricity

Hi there. We’re about to start the slow process of moving into the house we (not technically yet) bought, and it comes with prepaid electricity. My whole life I’ve lived in a house that has a meter.

How do you guys pay for electricity? Are there safe options online? Are there mobile options?
I know about a recent MyBB article that mentioned paying at start of the month as the “tariff” thing resets, so that info I got. Just curious how it works and if anyone has any tips or if you guys know of website X that is ripoff/cheap or what.

Dunno if it matters, but I’m in the Eastern Cape.

We recently moved into a house with a prepaid meter - also our first experience. I just buy electricity through my banking app (Absa). I suspect most banking apps have that facility. You get a token / code issued after the purchase, which you just punch into the meter installed in your house. It really is as easy as that.

Regarding the tariff blocks, I just buy as much electricity as I can early in the month. The first 2x R1000 purchases are at the cheaper tariff, after which it gets quite expensive. I usually get around 450 units for a R1000, but any subsequent purchases drop to about 370 units for a R1000. I’ve never needed to purchase more than that, so don’t know what the next block increase would be in my scenario. My “bill” averages around R2200-R2500 per month.

We’re a household of 3 adults and 1 toddler with a domestic coming in once a week, a gardener once every second week and my parents staying over on most weekends. My wife and I also work from home permanently, so we have 2x laptops and 4x monitors running 24/7 (we never switch them off). Other than that usual household usage, including 1-2 TVs running every so often during the day and some downlights on almost permanently during the day (as that part of the house gets very little sun and natural light). So maybe use that info to judge how much prepaid will end up costing you?

I buy via my Nedbank and sbank apps

I know the FNB app also has the ability to do it. My wife has an FNB account (that’s dormant, we’re closing it soon) and I remember seeing the option in the app. @Mottamort so there you go - most banking apps have the facility already built in.

Awesome, thanks for the feedback guys. Happy that there’s a way to just top up via a banking app and I don’t need to like drive to a Pick n Pay or something to go get. I’m fairly certain we’ll have to get into habit of paying this way and we’re likely to run out at the beginning, although I’ll do my best not to let that happen. Reckon it will take a few months to get a feel for monthly topup and whats usual/unusual usage.

Thanks again everyone !

Oh, glorious voluntary load shedding. I’ve done that several times - even in the middle of conference calls.

I’m fairly certain that’s gonna happen to us. and it will always be my lady and I looking at each other and going “is it loadshedding or did we forget to buy”

We ran out of units at our previous office quite a lot. Boss always forgot to buy.

We are on prepaid as well, my dad kinda has no idea what we pay for electricity, he believes a house of 3 adults will only use R1500 - when most 2 households uses R2000 (we dont even turn the tumble dryer on anymore to save power). What he doesnt know is I top up about R800 a month behind his back to keep it going - it is a decent chunk but its better than the arguments that he needs to buy more power - at the office we only use R1000 a month and somehow the house has to be the same. But this is the same person that has no idea how much milk costs. He doesnt do any food shopping so he has no clue what stuff costs in general.

I use the FNB app and for the office we use https://www.electricity.co.za/ (they can be useless tho and you have to chase them to get your token).

Protip when buying, wait at least 2 - 5mins after receiving said token before loading up.

Wow you guys have expensive power bills!

Four of us in a house and we pay R1.1 for elec a month which is baked into our rental costs.

Good to know, thanks.

I wonder if price per “unit” is different between towns/provinces? coudl that explain how some are cheaper?

That could be, we buy ours directly from City of Cape Town and it works on that first x amount is cheap and the rest gets silly

I use Prepaid24. I just do an EFT to them through my online banking and they send me the tokens almost immediately via email and sms.

They are who first came up when i google prepaid electricity, good to know its not a dodgy site

EDIT: need to clarify, i’m instantly suspicious of a site that has to try convince you its not suspicious “why not trust us” hehe

EDIT2: oh TRY us…

No they’re fine, I’ve been using them since 2011 when I got tired of having to go to garages each time to buy electricity, only to find out the municipality is currently offline. At least with Pre-paid 24 they let me know if the system is offline and then they send the tokens as soon as they can.

Awesome, more good feedback.

Thanks guys

I also use my FNB app to buy prepaid directly for City of Ekurhuleni. Get the token instantly in-app.

When we had our meter installed, we had the option to choose sliding scale or fixed rate unit price. Did the math and if we use more than ~800kw/h units per month, fixed rate works out cheaper. I do about 1000 units a month for family of four.

We can only change option once/12 month, so make sure you choose the right option to save money.

Then, the first time I buy in a calendar month, there is a service fee of ~R20 so get a little less units,but only on the first time.

Where did you get a choice! We were not given one!

Yea also curious where to find something like that out, as our meter is pre-existing when we move in.

Normally just use the FNB app, alternatively, if cash I just buy wherever sells.

Edit: Eskom as a supplier