The facts about existing CBI prepayment meters

[Prepay Guru]

I have recently come across a lot of misinformation about CBI
prepayment meters - mainly on the web (don't we just love Google").
CBI used to build and supply CBI prepayment meters in the common based
ED format. Since CBI stopped producing meters many meter owners and
body corporates lost their guarantees and support for these meters.
Most private vending service providers insist that CBI meters must be
replaced and cannot be accommodated in their vending system. Not true
people!

A failed CBI meter must be replaced (as it cannot be repaired) with a
different manufacturer meter (preferably from s experienced supplier)
but an existing fully functional meter does not need to be replaced.
The only time an working meter needs to be replaces is if the meters
supply group code is not known to the owner of the meter meaning the
new vending service provider cannot generate 20 digit tokens for that
meter. There are ways to find out what the meter supply group code is,
so be wary when told a CBI meter must be replaced when it is clearly
still working.

One unfortunate exception might require a working CBI meter to be
replaced, when the supply group code programmed in the meter is owned
by a specific entity and the new service provider do not have access
to it due to refusal to make it available by the owner of the supply
group code. This is a big no-no in the industry in that body
corporates or meter owners may not be held ransom by a service
provider that owns a particular SGC.

Usually the CBI meters can be accommodated in a new vending system
without the meter users knowing the difference. this obviously has a
huge financial saving as a result.

There are industry policies in place to protect the public and the
industry against the misuse of supply group codes and legal action is
possible against service providers.

Use facilities like this public forum to raise issues and keep us all
informed.

Regards,