kaspaas
28-01-2008, 09:02 AM
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20080128023535736C373448
Quotas for homes based on history - Eskom
January 28 2008 at 04:54AM
By Bronwyn Gerretsen
Rolling blackouts are set to continue in KwaZulu-Natal this week, with Eskom aiming at implementing power rationing within three months.
Quotas for homes and business will be based, in part, on the history of a consumer's power consumption throughout 2007.
This emerges from Eskom statements showing individual consumption histories of companies and households will be among factors taken into consideration in the rationing formula. The actual way in which quotas will be enforced will be determined during the coming weeks.
'prevent a cascade of problems'
This follows the announcement by Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin on Friday that quotas would be used to curb the use of power. South African households will have to shed 10 percent of their power usage, and commercial and large offices 15 percent.
Andrew Etzinger, general manager of Eskom's demand-side management, said: "This formula will not be devised and implemented by Eskom. It is driven by the government and we will be engaging with stakeholders.
All consumers would be given a fixed limit of electricity and a system of penalties and rewards would be implemented if consumers used more or less than their allocated quotas.
He added that consumers should not wait until quotas were announced before cutting back on their power usage.
"People should also not now use more power in the short term so that they get a bigger quota when the system is put in place. We will be looking at consumption levels in 2007," he said.
Etzinger said that people who used a small amount of power last year would not necessarily be limited to that amount when quotas were implemented. However, if they continued to conserve energy and use less than their quota, they could be rewarded.
In the same way, consumers who used large amounts of power last year would not necessarily be given that amount in their quota, he said.
Meanwhile, load-shedding looks set to continue this week.
Last week the imbalance between demand for electricity and Eskom's capacity to supply reached an unprecedented level with Eskom shedding 4 000 MW. Stage three, the last and most severe stage on the blackout schedule, caters for shortages up to 4 500 MW.
Asked what would happen once this level was reached, Etzinger said drastic action would need to be taken to "prevent a cascade of problems".
"This means that we would have to start manually load-shedding our large industrial customers. Last week we informed them we were in trouble and advised them of the risks of us not being able to supply them being high. We urgently requested them to reduce power, which they did," he said.
Meanwhile, mining companies were allowed to resume underground maintenance work on Sunday.
Mineral extraction, however, was still not permitted.
An overwhelming number of South African TV viewers on Sunday night expressed a lack of confidence in Eskom's ability to rectify the power crisis.
M-Net invited viewers to SMS their views. More than 100 000 SMS responses showed viewers had no confidence in Eskom - compared with about 1 000 who did.
Quotas for homes based on history - Eskom
January 28 2008 at 04:54AM
By Bronwyn Gerretsen
Rolling blackouts are set to continue in KwaZulu-Natal this week, with Eskom aiming at implementing power rationing within three months.
Quotas for homes and business will be based, in part, on the history of a consumer's power consumption throughout 2007.
This emerges from Eskom statements showing individual consumption histories of companies and households will be among factors taken into consideration in the rationing formula. The actual way in which quotas will be enforced will be determined during the coming weeks.
'prevent a cascade of problems'
This follows the announcement by Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin on Friday that quotas would be used to curb the use of power. South African households will have to shed 10 percent of their power usage, and commercial and large offices 15 percent.
Andrew Etzinger, general manager of Eskom's demand-side management, said: "This formula will not be devised and implemented by Eskom. It is driven by the government and we will be engaging with stakeholders.
All consumers would be given a fixed limit of electricity and a system of penalties and rewards would be implemented if consumers used more or less than their allocated quotas.
He added that consumers should not wait until quotas were announced before cutting back on their power usage.
"People should also not now use more power in the short term so that they get a bigger quota when the system is put in place. We will be looking at consumption levels in 2007," he said.
Etzinger said that people who used a small amount of power last year would not necessarily be limited to that amount when quotas were implemented. However, if they continued to conserve energy and use less than their quota, they could be rewarded.
In the same way, consumers who used large amounts of power last year would not necessarily be given that amount in their quota, he said.
Meanwhile, load-shedding looks set to continue this week.
Last week the imbalance between demand for electricity and Eskom's capacity to supply reached an unprecedented level with Eskom shedding 4 000 MW. Stage three, the last and most severe stage on the blackout schedule, caters for shortages up to 4 500 MW.
Asked what would happen once this level was reached, Etzinger said drastic action would need to be taken to "prevent a cascade of problems".
"This means that we would have to start manually load-shedding our large industrial customers. Last week we informed them we were in trouble and advised them of the risks of us not being able to supply them being high. We urgently requested them to reduce power, which they did," he said.
Meanwhile, mining companies were allowed to resume underground maintenance work on Sunday.
Mineral extraction, however, was still not permitted.
An overwhelming number of South African TV viewers on Sunday night expressed a lack of confidence in Eskom's ability to rectify the power crisis.
M-Net invited viewers to SMS their views. More than 100 000 SMS responses showed viewers had no confidence in Eskom - compared with about 1 000 who did.