Eskom made us pay money for a "faulty electricity meter keypad" and then told us there's actually nothing wrong with the keypad. Forced us to spend Christmas in the dark.

My sister and her family were forced to spend Christmas in the dark after Eskom sent her from pillar to post with a faulty electricity meter.

Around 19 December, her Eskom meter kept switching off on its own and wouldn't recharge.

She bought 2 new batteries and still nothing changed.

We called Eskom and explained the situation. They only sent a technician after 4 days. At this point the lights were off.

The technician looked at the machine and told my sister she had to pay R600 because the "Keypad was faulty."

He gave her an invoice with the account number to send the money to.

We paid and emailed the P.O.P to Eskom.

We then called again and were told that a technician would be dispatched to come and replace the electricity meter.

The technician only came today (30 December)

This technician said there is nothing wrong with our meter and that we needed to get (yet another) new battery.

When asked about the money we paid the technician told us there is nothing they can do to help us, we paid we paid.

That's money that could've been used to buy my sister's children school stationery.

Not to mention the airtime used to make the long calls to the Eskom switchboard.

Not to mention all the food that got spoiled in my sister's fridge.

How can one professional technician tell us we need to pay for a keypad and another professional technician tell us there is nothing wrong with the keypad? All from the same company?