For Free Basic Electricity in Eskom direct-supply households, confirm household eligibility through the responsible municipality, then check that the correct electricity account or meter is linked. Application, approval and collection are separate stages. SIMcloud does not approve these applications or issue free tokens through this guide.
Official sources reviewed 1 November 2026. An older policy or expired campaign is identified below. The authority's current form and assessment control eligibility; this page does not collect identity or income documents.
Official starting point for Eskom direct-supply households
Eskom's FBE guidance explains the division of responsibility: municipalities identify qualifying households and submit indigent lists; Eskom configures the eligible supply record. Start with your local municipality for an eligibility enquiry, then resolve activation and collection for the Eskom meter.
Being an Eskom customer or owning a prepaid meter does not by itself establish that a household is currently configured to receive FBE. A registration reference and a correctly linked meter are both needed to investigate a missing benefit.
What to confirm before applying
Ask the municipality whether the household is approved, which list period includes it and whether the complete Eskom meter/account identifier was supplied. If approved, ask Eskom whether the corresponding record is configured. Where the property or meter changed, establish which organisation must correct the identifier.
Eskom describes a national 50 kWh baseline and municipal variations. Confirm your actual approved allocation rather than treating every direct-supply account as identical. For conventional billing, ask how the benefit appears as an account credit rather than expecting a prepaid token.
Submit through the authority's current process
Once eligibility and meter configuration are confirmed, use a supported vendor or the collection routes Eskom lists, *130*869# and *130*269#. A collection request does not register a household. Eskom says a qualifying household can claim without a paid top-up and should collect monthly; its page explains that unclaimed benefits do not accumulate and gives validity restrictions.
Check approval, meter linkage and collection
Keep the application reference, approval period and full meter number privately. Ask whether registration is active, the meter is linked, the benefit has been processed for the current month and whether it has already been collected. A token from a previous occupant or an old account can point to the wrong record.
If you were approved but cannot see the benefit, ask which organisation owns the correction and obtain a case reference. Another collection code cannot repair an unapproved application or a wrong meter link. Use the FBE collection guide for that separate stage.
Budget for electricity above the benefit
Use the household energy budget to compare expected use with the allocation. Paid purchases still follow the assigned tariff and account deductions. The tariff hub explains that distinction and identifies which rates are calculator-supported.
If a paid token is missing, recover it through the seller's purchase history rather than treating a payment problem as a new FBE application. Do not share full tokens or identity documents in public comments.
Questions about this application
Does buying electricity register me?
No. A paid purchase, a meter check and an indigent-support application are different actions.
What if the meter is managed privately?
Ask the municipality and meter administrator how support is linked to the household under that arrangement. Do not assume a direct municipal collection process applies unchanged.
Where can I compare other areas?
The national FBE hub links the local routes and explains eligibility versus collection.