Eskom has confirmed that it will temporarily shut down its prepaid electricity vending system next week to perform scheduled maintenance.
The planned outage will begin at 22:00 on Thursday, 6 November 2025, and is expected to last until 06:00 on Friday morning, if the process runs according to schedule.
In a public notice, the power utility said the shutdown is part of a major upgrade to its vending infrastructure, the system that allows prepaid customers to buy electricity tokens through vendors, online platforms, and banking apps.
During the maintenance period, customers across the country will not be able to purchase prepaid electricity in any form, whether through ATMs, mobile applications, or retail outlets.
Eskom has urged all prepaid customers to buy enough electricity before the downtime begins to avoid being left without power during the maintenance window.
“Customers are encouraged to buy electricity before the scheduled downtime,” the utility said, adding that the work is intended to “improve service delivery and system reliability.”
The company also noted that the maintenance work is part of ongoing efforts to strengthen its internal systems after recent issues with its prepaid operations.
Earlier this year, Eskom reported uncovering an internal fraud scheme involving the illegal generation and sale of fake electricity tokens by employees colluding with external operators.
Eskom Group Chairperson Mteto Nyati said the breach had exposed “serious weaknesses in internal controls” and that the company was working to close those gaps through improved system security and oversight.
The vending system maintenance, while temporary, is expected to affect millions of South Africans who rely on prepaid electricity.
The vending platform is connected to Eskom’s central database, which manages token generation and payment validation across various payment channels. When it is offline, no transactions can be processed.
Eskom has assured customers that no data or balance information will be lost during the maintenance period. Once the system comes back online, normal purchasing and recharging functions will resume automatically.
The utility has not announced any further planned outages beyond this one, but it continues to warn that similar maintenance windows could occur in the future as part of its system modernisation plan.
The project forms part of Eskom’s broader initiative to secure its revenue collection and strengthen its financial performance amid rising operational costs and debt.
