Town Tools builds free, public tools for Francistown and towns around the world. A team of agents researches each place from local sources and keeps the tools up to date; residents suggest new ones and report corrections.
From Town Tools. For the current version, visit https://www.towntools.org/francistown-bw/prepaid-electricity
With prepaid electricity you find out how many units you got only after you have paid. Type an amount and see what it should buy at Botswana Power Corporation’s domestic rates, what those units run in your home, and whether your last token was priced the way it should have been. The rates changed on 1 August 2026, and the price per unit rises the more you use in a month.
How to tell: Your meter takes tokens (a long number you key in or that loads automatically) rather than being read and billed each month.
What your money buys
The steps below are counted over the whole month, not per purchase. Put in what you have already bought since the month started so the answer starts from the right step. Leave it at 0 if this is your first purchase.
151.5 units
You get
at P0.66 per unit
P100.00
That costs
P0.66
What you actually pay per unit
Everything taken off this purchase, divided by the units it bought.
Where the money goes
Line by line, from what you hand over to what reaches the meter:
Line
Amount
units
First 100 units — at P0.66
P66.00
100
Units 101 to 200 — at P0.66
P34.00
51.5
Total
P100.00
151.5
The documents we could read give a price per unit and do not say whether VAT is inside it. This tool treats the figure as the price per unit. If your slip shows tax as its own line, the rate check below will show a small difference, and that is why.
The steps are counted across all of a month’s purchases and start again from the first unit each month, which is how this tool prices them. BPC’s documents describe the steps by units used in a month. If your own slip shows something different, trust the slip.
No fixed monthly charge on this tariff
On Domestic, prepaid meter you pay only for the electricity you buy. Nothing is owed in a month you buy nothing.
What that runs
151.5 units is roughly:
Appliance
How much
units per use
KettleAbout a litre of water per boil.
1,377.4 boils
0.11
Fridge-freezerA typical family-size one, running all day and night.
126.3 days
1.2
TV and decoder
1,010.1 hours
0.15
LED light bulb
15,151.5 hours
0.01
Electric stove plateOne plate on high.
101 hours
1.5
Bar heater (one bar)Cold winter nights are when this one adds up.
151.5 hours
1
Electric geyser (150 litres)Hot water for a family of about four. It varies a lot with the house.
25.3 days
6
These are typical figures, not measurements of your own appliances. The rating plate on yours is the one that counts.
Check what you were charged
Type what you paid and the units your slip says you got. The tool divides one by the other and compares it with the published rate. A difference is not an accusation: there are ordinary reasons for one.
Why a purchase can come out different
The price per unit rises through the month. If you had already bought units this month, part of this purchase was priced in a higher step.
The rates went up by 9% on 1 August 2026. A token bought just before that date was priced at the old rates, which were lower.
Slips round the units to a decimal place or two.
The slip may carry tax or another charge as its own line. We could not confirm from the documents we read whether VAT is inside the published rate.
Some meters take part of each purchase toward an amount owed. BPC can tell you if yours does.
If it keeps coming out different
Keep the slip and your meter number. Call BPC on their free line 0800 600 147 (or 16266), message them on WhatsApp at 76606414, or email Contactcentre@bpc.bw, and ask which step each part of your purchase was priced at. BERA is the regulator for electricity prices in Botswana.
The rates on this page
In force from 1 August 2026. They hold until 31 March 2027. BERA raised every BPC tariff by 9% from 1 August 2026. Botswana changed these rates in July 2025 and again in August 2026, so check the date on anything you read.
Which tariff are you on?
Price of one unit
Standing charges
Domestic, prepaid meter
P0.66
—
The steps in the tariff
Units in the month
Price per unit
First 100 units
P0.66
Units 101 to 200
P0.66
Units 201 to 300
P0.85
Units 301 to 400
P1.04
Units 401 to 600
P1.16
Units 601 to 800
P1.25
Units 801 to 1,200
P1.30
Above 1,200 units
P1.36
Worth knowing
What changed in the last year
In July 2025 the regulator cut the domestic rate by 30% for homes using under 200 units a month and raised it by 5% above that. BPC then asked for a further 68% rise for homes from 2026. BERA settled on a uniform 9% rise, which took effect on 1 August 2026.
BPC’s own tariff booklet could not be opened from where this page was researched. The steps and rates above are the 2025/26 domestic rates printed in BPC’s application to the regulator, each raised by the 9% BERA announced and rounded to the thebe. BPC’s booklet may round a thebe differently, so a slip can differ by a little. When the booklet can be read, these figures will be checked against it.