Eskom chatbot Alfred: WhatsApp number, login and how to use it

The Eskom chatbot is Alfred, and the quickest way to reach it is WhatsApp. Save 08600 37566, Eskom’s share-call number, in your contacts and send a message. Alfred can log a power interruption, give you a reference number within seconds and report progress on a fault you already logged, at any hour.

This guide covers what Alfred can and cannot do, what you need before you start, whether there is a login, and what to do when it will not recognise you. It is written for households and small businesses, and it is based on Eskom’s own published instructions.

What the Eskom chatbot can do

According to Eskom, Alfred handles the requests that used to fill the call centre queue:

• Report a power interruption. Log a fault as it happens and get a reference number.
• Follow up on a fault. Use your reference number to get progress feedback without reporting it again.
• Check your account balance. Eskom added this in an upgrade it announced in July 2024.
• Submit a meter reading. Send your own reading so your bill can be based on what your meter shows.
• Sort out prepaid KRN problems. The same upgrade added help with key revision number (KRN) issues on prepaid meters.

Alfred runs 24 hours a day, every day. Eskom introduced it in 2021, and in April 2026 Eskom was still promoting the WhatsApp number as the simplest way to report an outage.

Who can use Alfred

Alfred is for customers supplied directly by Eskom. Eskom’s own brochure is explicit that it does not cover customers supplied by a municipality. Many South Africans buy electricity from their municipality, which buys it from Eskom, and in that case the municipality runs your account and the local network.

The quick test is to look at who bills you. If your electricity account is with a metro or local municipality, use that municipality’s fault line or app instead, because Alfred cannot look up municipal accounts.

What you need before you start

• A way to chat. A phone with WhatsApp and some data, or a browser for the web chat.
• Your account or meter number. Eskom says customers chat to Alfred using their account number, which is on your bill, or their meter number, if you are on prepaid.
• Fault details. Your address and, if you can see it, the number on the nearest pole. Eskom asks for the pole number and address when you phone about a fault, so it helps to have them ready.
• A contact number where Eskom can reach you.

How to use the Eskom chatbot on WhatsApp

1. Save 08600 37566 in your contacts, for example as “Eskom Alfred”. Take the number from eskom.co.za, not from a forwarded message.
2. Open WhatsApp, find the contact and send a message such as “Hi”.
3. Alfred replies and takes you through the next steps. Choose what you need, such as reporting a fault.
4. Give your account or meter number when Alfred asks for it.
5. Describe the problem and confirm the details.
6. Save the reference number. You need it to follow up without starting again.

Using Alfred on the web

If you are at a computer, open alfred.eskom.co.za/chatroom or click the chatbot icon on Eskom’s website. The web chat opens straight into a conversation: Alfred greets you and asks your name, then guides you through the same kind of requests. A link to Eskom’s privacy notice sits at the top of the chat window.

Alfred login: do you need one?

No. There is no Alfred account, username or password to create. On WhatsApp you simply message the number, and on the web you open the chat. What Alfred needs is your Eskom account number or meter number, which is how it links the conversation to your account. Eskom’s pages do not mention a one-time PIN step for Alfred.

People searching for an “Alfred login” are often thinking of Eskom’s other self-service channels, which do use accounts:

• MyEskom Customer App. You register with your account number or prepaid meter number, and Eskom says the cellphone number on its system must be current.
• Eskom CS Online. The customer service website at csonline.eskom.co.za logs you in with your account number or prepaid meter number and a password, with options to register or reset a forgotten password.

If the app or website will not accept your details, check that your contact details on Eskom’s system are up to date. The USSD menu and the call centre both let Eskom customers update their details.

What Alfred cannot do

• Serve municipal customers. If the municipality supplies you, Alfred cannot see your account.
• Replace an emergency call. For a fallen line, sparking or anything that could hurt someone, keep everyone well away and phone 08600 37566 rather than typing.
• Speed up a technician. A reference number logs the fault; it does not move it up the queue. Eskom warns that technicians can take longer to dispatch after hours.
• Sell electricity. Eskom does not list buying prepaid electricity among Alfred’s services.
• Promise a language. Eskom does not say which languages Alfred understands, and its own material about Alfred is in English.

When Alfred fails or does not recognise you

1. Check your supplier. If Alfred cannot find your account, first make sure Eskom, not your municipality, supplies you.
2. Check the number. Type the account or meter number exactly as it appears on your bill or meter.
3. Check your connection. WhatsApp needs data. On a weak signal, dial the USSD menu, *120*37566#, which Eskom says works on any phone without data, although it uses airtime.
4. Try another channel. The MyEskom Customer App and the phone line on 08600 37566 can also log faults and give progress on them.
5. Report the technical problem. Eskom asks customers to report problems with its digital platforms to mobility@eskom.co.za.
6. Escalate a complaint. If a fault or account problem drags on, email a formal complaint through Eskom’s complaint handling process, with your reference number in the subject line. If Eskom does not resolve it, the energy regulator, NERSA, runs a customer complaints process.

Alfred, the app, USSD or the call centre?

For most outages Alfred is the quickest option, because there is no phone queue. The call centre is still the right choice when the problem is dangerous or unusual.

What Alfred shows about customer-service chatbots

Alfred works because it does a few high-volume jobs well: it logs the fault, issues a reference number and reports progress, on WhatsApp, where people already are. It does not try to answer everything. That is the pattern that makes a service chatbot useful rather than annoying.

If your business answers the same questions all day, the same approach applies at a smaller scale. See how AI customer service on WhatsApp works for South African businesses, and what a WhatsApp chatbot costs in South Africa. Alfred is also different from Meta AI, the general assistant built into WhatsApp itself; our guide to Meta AI on WhatsApp explains that one.