You can buy electricity with only R13 to your name
· The South African
Mid-month is bad, but the day or two before payday is worse.
If you’re like many South Africans, these pre-month-end days are the final stretch of survival.
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It’s when you may find yourself using creative budgeting to stretch your last few Rands.
It’s when you remember friends you haven’t spoken to in a while.
You see your units drop to single digits and know you can’t blame loadshedding for being in the dark.
That’s when the ability to buy electricity with only R13 to your name helps.
Buying Electricity with R13 in your bank account
Typically, the least amount of electricity you can buy on banking apps and online is R30.
Then, there’s a fee.
When you add it all up, you need at least R33.
At month-end, you might scoff at R33.
You won’t scoff when you have too little money to withdraw and want to buy other essentials.
If you find yourself in that predicament, you can buy a R10 1Voucher from your banking app.
There’s a R3 fee to buy the voucher.
If you have an account, you can log in to 1Voucher, or you can download the app and create an account.
Select “top up,” and add the voucher number.
Then, choose the option to buy electricity before entering your metre number.
Using Your Banking App
But if you frequently find yourself searching for money in unlikely places before month-end, you might want to switch to a budget-friendly bank account.
Capitec, for example, only charges R1 in fees when you purchase electricity through the banking app.
You can also get an electricity advance through the Capitec banking app for R3.
FNB also has a budget bank account, the Easy Zero, where the fee to buy electricity is R1.
Bank Zero doesn’t charge any fees to buy electricity.
Buying Electricity on Credit
There’s also the temptation to purchase electricity on credit.
Depending on the type of prepaid meter you have, you may be able to buy electricity on credit from your service provider.
This is not a budget-friendly option.
When you buy electricity in future, the credit amount will be deducted along with any fees.
These service fees aren’t always transparent, leaving you with fewer units than expected.