Abstract

Purpose: In South Africa residents and business owners are urged by government to manage the usage of electricity more effectively in order to curb consumption. Resistance from residents to convert to prepaid metering, led to the implementation of restrictions by electricity providers. 
Design/Methodology/Approach: 389 low-income residents within the City of Tshwane were interviewed by means of a structured questionnaire. The purpose was to determine how prepaid users perceive the purchasing of credits, seeing that the fear of running out of electricity was one of the main reasons why post-paid users are reluctant to change.
Findings: In general, the results were positive, however, males and females of certain age groups and different levels of income had different opinion on some aspects. With regards to the reasons for running out of credits, and if and how this system encourage payment for usage were perceived by the users as convenient and easy.
Implications/Originality/Value: The results of this study could motivate post-paid users to convert to prepaid metering systems, if service providers adapt their current awareness campaigns by customising it to be reach specific target markets instead of following a generic approach that serve no purpose.