The Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) launched the “Update Token Meter Yako” campaign two months ago, which is scheduled to end on August 31, 2024.
Unknown to many people, the primary reason behind Kenya Power’s “Update Token Meter Yako” campaign is the impending expiration of the 20-digit token system used by prepaid meters.
This is part of a global initiative to ensure that prepaid electricity meters continue to operate securely and efficiently through the Standard Transfer Specification (STS).
The STS is an international standard for securing and managing tokens for prepaid meters, ensuring the accurate measurement and billing of electricity consumption.
STS was introduced to utilities as a secure means to manage prepaid electricity meters. Customers purchase a 20-digit encrypted token and enter it into their meter to receive electricity.
This system has been crucial in enabling utilities to offer prepaid electricity services, providing flexibility and control over electricity usage to clients.
However, there is a built-in limitation in STS technology, known as the “token identifier” (TID) rollover. The TID is a 31-bit counter within the STS standard, which holds a finite number of token combinations.
As the TID approaches its maximum value, older tokens might be accepted by meters as valid tokens, leading to potential issues with duplicate tokens and compromising both the security and reliability of the system.
In this regard, a global TID rollover exercise is scheduled to begin on November 24, 2024. Utilities using STS technology need to update their meters before the TID limit is reached.
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This update is necessary to reset the TID counter and ensure that the meter can continue to create and accept unique tokens without duplication or error.
“The token identifier (TID) is calculated as the number of minutes that have elapsed since a defined base date of 1993 up to the time of creating the token. The TID has a limited range and will run out in November 2024, at which point all existing prepayment meters will stop accepting credit tokens,” Don Taylor, Chairman of the STS Association, said in an interview.
“In order to circumvent this issue, the memory of each meter needs to be cleared of all stored TIDs and its cryptographic key needs to be changed before 2024. The new range of TIDs will then start from a new base date of 2014 and run out in 2045.”
By updating their meters, Kenyan customers are ensuring that their prepaid meters remain secure and operational beyond the TID rollover point.
The updating exercise on the part of the customer ensures uninterrupted buying and loading of electricity tokens onto their meters while maintaining the security of these tokens to safeguard both the Utility and the Customer against potential fraud or meter tampering.
Failure to update the meters as required by the global TID rollover exercise could lead to significant issues, including widespread power outages caused by the inability to load new tokens.
Track the global TID rollover countdown.
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