“This Happened to Us”: SA Woman Stunned After R50 Buys Only 1.1kWh of Electricity in Cape Town

• A Cape Town woman was left confused after paying R50 for prepaid electricity through her FNB app
• She only received 1.1kWh in units and turned to Reddit to ask for help understanding the breakdown
• South Africans flooded the comments with theories, from landlord rates arrears to standard prepaid meter service fees

A Cape Town woman was left confused after paying R50 for prepaid electricity through her banking app. She only got 1.1kWh in units and turned to Reddit for answers.

Reddit user shares confusing SMS breakdown

The woman, who uses the name waitingfordownload on Reddit, posted a screenshot of her FNB notification. It showed she paid R50 for electricity on a Tuesday evening. The message listed a VAT amount of R6.52 and a service fee of R45.78. After all those deductions, she was left with just 1.1kWh of power.

She explained that she rents an apartment in the city through a rental agency. Her unit was reportedly used as an Airbnb before she moved in. She said she was not sure if that history played any role in her electricity charges.

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The woman asked whether the R45.78 service fee was normal for prepaid electricity buyers. She also wanted to know if she should raise the issue with her rental agent. Another option, she said, was reporting the matter directly to the municipality.

South Africans weigh in with their own theories

Many commenters believed the landlord might be behind the low units. They said unpaid rates accounts can sometimes eat into a tenant’s electricity purchases. One person said a similar situation happened to them in a previous rental home. They had to fight with the agency and the landlord for months over the issue.

Another commenter offered a different explanation for the high service fee. They said prepaid meter companies charge tenants a separate monthly service fee. This fee reportedly has nothing to do with unpaid municipal rates or landlord debt. According to them, all prepaid meter providers charge this fee to tenants directly.

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See the post here.

More stories involving electricity and usage

• An energy expert broke down what the latest electricity tariff hike means for both prepaid and postpaid households.
• A Johannesburg man took to TikTok to ask whether prepaid electricity is actually saving people money.
• Municipal electricity tariff hikes approved by Nersa take effect on 1 July 2025, affecting millions of South African households.

Source: Briefly News