Eskom explains power cuts

[jes]

Eskom explains power cuts

Deliberate power cuts took place countrywide on Wednesday night, electricity giant Eskom said.

 

[kianm]

Wish I could deliberately not pay for electricity

 

[ChocolateBadger]

Wish I could deliberately not pay for electricity

You can but they'll stop giving it to you when have have some to give.

 

[McGuywer]

If you switch off your geyser at 5PM and switch it on at 9PM, it will take a lot of electricity to get the water hot again. Isn't that just wasting electricity?

 

[kianm]

If you switch off your geyser at 5PM and switch it on at 9PM, it will take a lot of electricity to get the water hot again. Isn't that just wasting electricity?

I've actually tried to test that and seems you actually waste by switching the geyser on and off. I don't know how Eskimo (keeping people cold) sees that

 

[shez]

Every year they keep whining... we need more money blah blah blah.. and on the flip side they are cutting off the power. Bosses and staff are walking away with big bonuses.

 

[Petec]

I've actually tried to test that and seems you actually waste by switching the geyser on and off. I don't know how Eskimo (keeping people cold) sees that

Plus you significantly shorten the lifespan of your geyser. What should happen, is geysers should be made to be more insulated against heat loss.

 

[patrick123]

If you switch off your geyser at 5PM and switch it on at 9PM, it will take a lot of electricity to get the water hot again. Isn't that just wasting electricity?

They don't mind that you actually use more electricity as long as it's during the quiet time. Their aim is to have sufficient during the peak demand period. Sort of like downloading from midnight to 6:00am.

 

[McGuywer]

I've actually tried to test that and seems you actually waste by switching the geyser on and off. I don't know how Eskimo (keeping people cold) sees that

Every year they keep whining... we need more money blah blah blah.. and on the flip side they are cutting off the power. Bosses and staff are walking away with big bonuses.

Plus you significantly shorten the lifespan of your geyser. What should happen, is geysers should be made to be more insulated against heat loss.

They don't mind that you actually use more electricity as long as it's during the quiet time. Their aim is to have sufficient during the peak demand period. Sort of like downloading from midnight to 6:00am.

My thoughts exactly!

 

[TelkomUseless]

Every year they keep whining... we need more money blah blah blah.. and on the flip side they are cutting off the power. Bosses and staff are walking away with big bonuses.

Agree 100%. Every dam year, season change (winter/summer) they moan, want more money, will load shed .. Jeez.

 

[Denyed]

I've actually tried to test that and seems you actually waste by switching the geyser on and off. I don't know how Eskimo (keeping people cold) sees that

Its not about the energy usage. Its about demand. Demand is instantaneous draw kW/kVA, energy is over a period of time kWh. During off peak periods there is plenty of available capacity so you can use as much energy as you want. If you switch all your appliances on during the peak 2 hours you have a high demand at the worst possible time and that is what Eskom has to worry about. Switch all your appliances on during off peak and help Eskom out a bit by increasing demand at a time that the demand is low

We will eventually get to the point that you will pay lets say R3-4/kWh during peak periods and maybe 80c/kWh during off peak. It costs Eskom a huge amount of money to meet the demand during the peak. In places like Germany they have a relatively flat demand profile because they can switch between gas and electricity for heating etc. They also use the geyser/boiler to increase demand when needed and reduce when needed and effectively control the demand to be flat.

 

[torgo]

Its not about the energy usage. Its about demand. Demand is instantaneous draw kW/kVA, energy is over a period of time kWh. During off peak periods there is plenty of available capacity so you can use as much energy as you want. If you switch all your appliances on during the peak 2 hours you have a high demand at the worst possible time and that is what Eskom has to worry about. Switch all your appliances on during off peak and help Eskom out a bit by increasing demand at a time that the demand is low

We will eventually get to the point that you will pay lets say R3-4/kWh during peak periods and maybe 80c/kWh during off peak. It costs Eskom a huge amount of money to meet the demand during the peak. In places like Germany they have a relatively flat demand profile because they can switch between gas and electricity for heating etc. They also use the geyser/boiler to increase demand when needed and reduce when needed and effectively control the demand to be flat.

+1 making sense

 

[Gaz{M}]

A modern geyser should lose less than 2.5kWh of heat per 24 hour period. So switching it off for 4 hours (5-9pm) would only lose around 0.42 kWh which translates to a drop of 2.5 degrees celsius for a 150L geyser. ie: not noticeable unless you use hot water, but even then it will only be 2.5C cooler.

 

[Heisenborg]

A modern geyser should lose less than 2.5kWh of heat per 24 hour period. So switching it off for 4 hours (5-9pm) would only lose around 0.42 kWh which translates to a drop of 2.5 degrees celsius for a 150L geyser. ie: not noticeable unless you use hot water, but even then it will only be 2.5C cooler.

That is not even remotely relevant as each geyser is different. Ambient temp directly affects your sums and so does insulation of the geyser.

 

[Madhawk]

“Due to unavailability of some of our generators, we are implementing load shedding for an hour,” said spokesman Andrew Etzinger on Wednesday evening.

It was more than an hour, you idiot!

 

[qwertydudeza]

It was more than an hour, you idiot!

Eskom loadshed for an hour on national grid. What municipalities do to their customers is another story.
The idiot is you who doesn't get your power from Eskom but from municipality who have their own shedding schedules

 

[shez]

Eskom loadshed for an hour on national grid. What municipalities do to their customers is another story.
The idiot is you who doesn't get your power from Eskom but from municipality who have their own shedding schedules

I didn't even know we had a choice...

 

[Madhawk]

Eskom loadshed for an hour on national grid. What municipalities do to their customers is another story.
The idiot is you who doesn't get your power from Eskom but from municipality who have their own shedding schedules

So tell me smartass, how does one get power directly from Eskom and not through the municipality?

 

[David3011]

My solar panels and batteries are becoming more and more relevant as the days go by! If it's not the threat of more loadshedding, which of course is as unpredicatable as ever then its the prospect of massive price increases. It's a big investement for sure, but it's quite and reliable power as long as you dont use more then your panels are making. No noise, no exhaust fumes, no fuel, no servicing intervals associated with a generator!

 

[Denyed]

I didn't even know we had a choice...

You do if you prepared to move to a different area. I foresee many people moving to areas supplied by Eskom in the future as municipalities charge more and more for electricity relative to the Eskom tariff. Unfortunately the municipalities use the money made from electricity on other things too (cross subsidisation), and in poorly managed munics they don't even spend some of the money maintaining the electricity infrastructure. The reality for Eskom is that if they could charge the same amount for electricity as the munics do, their financial situation would be much better and they could spend more money maintaining old plant. I really feel that Eskom should manage the whole grid like EDF (French Utility), with some private generation (IPPs). That would mean money spend on electricity goes to electricity and electricity infrastructure etc