Load Shedding - the all in one thread

Some useless comments on busrep about the loadshedding:

# My thoughts are:

# Why not totally withhold electricity supplies to residential areas between the hours of 8am and 5pm daily?

# Keep businesses (particularly at shopping centres) operational during the above periods.


# Cut off power supply to shopping centres after the daytime shopping time, from 6pm to 8am.

Let's face it, most shoppers prefer not to shop when there is no electricity supply, for fear that when they return home they will discover that they have been burglarised.

In the evenings, most households are trying to prepare meals for their families and do laundry without electricity, while shopping centres are drawing maximum power.

Am I being illogical?
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Yes, he is being illogical! Clearly he has a very structured schedule, and doesn't think about:
1) People who work from home;
2) People with children;
3) Schools and businesses in residential areas;
4) People who need to go shopping after work

And to join the MyADSL Grammar Nazis (which I've been struggling really, really hard not to do) - burglarized? Really? What's wrong with good old 'burgled' or 'robbed'?
 
Cathryn said:
Some useless comments on busrep about the loadshedding:



Yes, he is being illogical! Clearly he has a very structured schedule, and doesn't think about:
1) People who work from home;
2) People with children;
3) Schools and businesses in residential areas;
4) People who need to go shopping after work

And to join the MyADSL Grammar Nazis (which I've been struggling really, really hard not to do) - burglarized? Really? What's wrong with good old 'burgled' or 'robbed'?
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Fridges defrosting. Domestics doing ironing etc. The fact that shopping centres are on the same grid as the houses.

In fact, I don't think he thought much at all.
 
Soulsnatcher said:
Anyone know if there is truth in the story that Eskom exports electricity that?
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yeah apparently it's a reciprocal deal with some of our neighbours, they help us and we help them but I would imagine we helping them a whole lot more...
 
Moederloos said:
Fridges defrosting. Domestics doing ironing etc. The fact that shopping centres are on the same grid as the houses.

In fact, I don't think he thought much at all.
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The list goes on and on.....

-Pensioners who stay at home
-People who's gardeners use electric lawnmowers etc.
-Schools (my step-son's high school had it's 2hrs of no power every day so far, in the mornings, when all the kids are in class

And my personal rant: How many times now have we had power cuts from 6pm to 8pm... Makes it a bit difficult when you come home from work and want to cook your family a decent meal... And do the washing etc. for the next day...
 
Just heard on KFM news that Koeberg has not been shut down yet, but it will be next week and that the load shedding in CT will be worse than this week! :(
 
I had to drive to the Cape Town international airport this morning at 07:30. I took the M12 through Elsies River and past Bishop Lavis. All the traffic lights from Jan Smuts Road to the airport weren't functioning, on my route that was about 10 of them. Some of the trickier ones had traffic officers directing traffic. Surprisingly, it turned out to be quicker than when the lights are working.

I reckon the city should switch off all the traffic lights and employ more traffic officers. It will save electricity and reduce unemployment, and improve peak-time traffic congestion.

When the lights are working, there's always some clown who enters the intersection as the lights change, preventing the people, for whom the lights have just turned green, from moving. Also, you have filters when there are no cars waiting, or people trying to stretch the filters by another two or three cars. With the traffic officers directing you don't have these problems, even the mini-bus taxi drivers were behaving.
 
We're exporting about that amount. So if we STOP to supply the rest of Africa, our problems are over. Unless my calculator is misfiring. Or we were given wrong figures.
 
abjater said:
We're exporting about that amount. So if we STOP to supply the rest of Africa, our problems are over. Unless my calculator is misfiring. Or we were given wrong figures.
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"our problems are over" for a few months.
That "windfall" will only last a while, and then increased demand will overtake us again.

But yes - cut off the deadbeats.
 
blunomore said:
....Why? Because the CEO is the person ultimately responsible for the performance of company and MUST ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR FAILURES.

Just saying in case he is reading here ;)
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If we were in an industrialised country like Germany, it would be the default action for the CEO to resign with immediate effect.
If we were in Imperial Japan, it would be expected of the CEO to complete a 'harakiri' ritual in the boardroom. How strong are those countries' economies?
Since we're in Africa .... will anything happen whatsoever? Besides some whishy whashy lies about the situation, and us beign told to deal with it!
 
BTW: Government (being the ultimate controlling entity/owner of Eskom - as per the Eskom website) should actively step in and DO some serious rectifying of the problem. If it means sacking the CEO and board of Eskom, or selling Eskom to an international company that has (a) the money to grow (b) the expertise to run it, and (c) the will to be a reliable supplier of services. Eskom is lacking all 3 of the above. Its unfair of Gov to expect service delivery from Municipalities, but not forcing the Municipalities' major supplier to do the same.
I heard a seriously disturbing rumour that Eishkom is lacking skills - the old men who built the national system were given early retirements (got snatched up by international corporations), leaving our dearest Creator if Darkness literally in the dark - no planning or engineering skills, or the know-how on running our system. Lets be honest about it - apartheid was a good thing, S.A. was forced to teach itself in many aspects, develop its own stuff. Now those people are gone. Leaving us with ........
 
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blunomore said:
REGARDLESS of how long any CEO has been in office, if a major catastrophe like the current Eskom one happens during his/her tenure, it is the RIGHT thing to do to STEP DOWN AS CEO.

Why? Because the CEO is the person ultimately responsible for the performance of company and MUST ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR FAILURES.

Just saying in case he is reading here ;)
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In 1998, the government instructed Eskom to stop building new power stations. This ban was lifted in 2004. The idea behind this was to liberalise the market and increase competition in the electricity sector. Eskom was to sell 30% of its capacity to independent power suppliers. However, no independents took the bite as there was no viable return on investment. The government took 6-7 years to wake up to the fact that nobody was coming to the party, but as we all now know, this far too late. Our current esteemed deputy president, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, was minister of of minerals and energy during most of this period.

The buck ultimately stops with the government but I can't see how this exonerates Eskom from equal blame. Strategic planners (if they had any) should have argued their case with the government and brought them to their senses. But that's history now. Hello darkness my dear old friend.
 
abjater said:
If we were in an industrialised country like Germany, it would be the default action for the CEO to resign with immediate effect.
If we were in Imperial Japan, it would be expected of the CEO to complete a 'harakiri' ritual in the boardroom.
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I believe assisted harakiri is also acceptable under Japanese tradition if the person has lived an honourable life. The honourable part is a bit of a problem here but I think we can make an exception just this once.:D
 
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