South Africa loses pre-payment metering lead

15 May 2012 - The Jakarta Post reports that Indonesian state power utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) has five million pre-paid customers on its books, the largest number of any power company in the world.

PLN president director Nur Pamudji says that South Africa, which introduced pre-paid electricity service in 1993, was previously the nation with the largest pre-paid base, with some four million customers.

Indonesia launched pre-paid electricity metering for its customers in 2005, and plans to add an additional 2.5 million new household connections this year.