Local power a 'time bomb'

Mila

Mila

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http://www.fin24.com/Economy/Local-power-a-time-bomb-20100827

Johannesburg - There is a backlog of about R28bn worth of maintenance and restoration of the country’s electricity distribution infrastructure, and this backlog is increasing by some R2.5bn every year.

It's a time bomb waiting to explode, said Phindile Nzimande, chief executive of EDI Holdings, Eskom’s subsidiary that has to manage the restructuring of the country's electricity distribution, at an energy conference on Thursday.

The backlog in maintenance work was disclosed by Ronald Chauke, National Treasury’s director for energy and telecommunications.

The EDI said R28bn was was needed to bring the country’s distribution assets up to an acceptable standard. If these assets were not reliable, delivery of safe electricity would be seriously compromised, said Chauke at a South African National Energy Association (Sanea) conference.

At the policy level Treasury and the Department of Energy were drawing up a plan for cabinet.

Nzimande said that the backlog had arisen because municipal authorities, which should spend 10% of their income from energy tariffs on maintaining distribution infrastructure, have simply neglected to do so.:mad:

Every year the shortfall was increasing by R2.5bn, she said. In her view there was no legal way to force the 187 municipalities that were licensed as electricity distributors to do the maintenance work, partly because the delimitation of the powers of local authorities made this impossible, and partly because the system of regional electricity distribution companies, previously known as Reds, had failed.

The constitution entrenched municipalities' rights to distribute and sell electricity within their jurisdiction.

The nine Reds were to have been established by connecting Eskom’s distribution network and that of the municipalities into regional organisations. This had never happened because certain municipalities had refused to surrender their distribution assets without compensation.

Mbulelo Ncetezo, executive manager at the National Electricity Regulator (Nersa), said that Nersa could fine municipalities that failed to do the compulsory infrastructural maintenance.

He said that Nersa could impose fines of up to R2m a day for every day that maintenance was overdue. The reality was, though, that local authorities that were behind in their maintenance work did not have money to do it. Fines would make it even more difficult to perform the work.

According to him, setting up the Reds was a possible solution.

For Nersa it was a problem to supervise 187 electricity distributors. At some of these municipalities the electricity department consisted of a single person, he said.
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Bend over consumer here it comes again.:mad:
 
Funny we didn't have this problem before the ANC took over. Say what you want about apartheid but at least then maintenance was done, bills were paid etc. Nowadays we're not paying for services, we're paying for incompetence.
 
evilstebunny said:
Funny we didn't have this problem before the ANC took over. Say what you want about apartheid but at least then maintenance was done, bills were paid etc. Nowadays we're not paying for services, we're paying for incompetence.
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Without pointing fingers or making it a race issue etc, what I've experienced in my line of work is that the big difference here is that in pre '94 era is that maintenance was part of the budget of new projects. Today they think that if you build something new, it'll stay new forever.

Also, back then the DPW / Transnet / etc. had tons of proper artisans who repaired and maintained their facilities. Today you have none.

In the older days there was such a thing as preventative maintenance. i.e. Fixing something before it breaks (just like you'd take your car for a yearly service). These days they only focus on reactive maintenance, fixing something AFTER it's broken...and usually more severe/expensive/longer to fix...and not budgeted for.
 
Exactly - yet they take the same & even more money for a job not done, or done like their arse. The only explanation is that they steal the money they should have used for maintenance.
 
evilstebunny said:
Funny we didn't have this problem before the ANC took over. Say what you want about apartheid but at least then maintenance was done, bills were paid etc.
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That's a very irresponsible statement to make. You don't seem to understand what apartheid stood for (Try reading?).
 
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evilstebunny said:
Funny we didn't have this problem before the ANC took over. Say what you want about apartheid but at least then maintenance was done, bills were paid etc. Nowadays we're not paying for services, we're paying for incompetence.
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THAT’S RACIST! True, but racist.

Note: The ANC purity league has been informed.
 
evilstebunny said:
Funny we didn't have this problem before the ANC took over. Say what you want about apartheid but at least then maintenance was done, bills were paid etc. Nowadays we're not paying for services, we're paying for incompetence.
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How naive you are.... :rolleyes:

Before opening your mouth next time perhaps you should just do a little reading about who the apartheid government bothered providing services for and who they didn't care about. Then compare the numbers with those getting these services today.

Palimino said:
THAT’S RACIST! True, but racist.

Note: The ANC purity league has been informed.
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...and for agreeing you should probably do the same.
 
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Here, let me help you a little :

1.
Electrification Targets
The Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) document issued in 1994 highlighted the need for people to gain access to energy, more specifically to electricity. The document also quoted figures to serve as targets for the electricity supply industry. The main target was that 2,5 million new connections in disadvantaged communities should have been made by year 2000 to give access to electricity to approximately 72% of the population of South Africa. These targets were ambitious, but were well thought through.
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Feel free to read a little more here before sprouting off next time.
 
LancelotSA said:
...and for agreeing you should probably do the same.
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Before opening your mouth perhaps you should poll some of the grassroots and see who they preferred. As bad as apartheid was for them, the ANC (as it exists) is infinitely worse. If they were urban they just kept out of the way and if they were rural, apartheid didn’t impact them (except for the occasional ‘document’ contact). The apartheid era police were well aware that they were surrounded by a numerically superior and hostile population in rural areas. They didn’t try anything. Perhaps YOU should do a little reading about who the apartheid government bothered.
 
evilstebunny said:
Funny we didn't have this problem before the ANC took over. Say what you want about apartheid but at least then maintenance was done, bills were paid etc. Nowadays we're not paying for services, we're paying for incompetence.
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yes and no, the municipality have always been quite poor, in the older days they had more reserves for maintenance, however they now have a larger community to take care off and money simply isn't available all the time. I remember quite a few power outs and faulty pipes in the 80's . For example they took 14 years to work on waterkloof Road in Pretoria.

Staadsdiens was nog altyd staadsdiens gewees :) Bandtjies vir boeties and just a few people who can do the job.
 
This is so true, our local electricity is a time bomb happily ticking away...

During the WC with Spain being hosted here in Potch an entire sub-station blew up. How on earth does that "just happen"?
No maintenance.

It left well over half the city without power (including the place where the Spaniards were staying) and took 3/4 days to fix. Most of the businesses were closed (restaurants, small shop, etc.) for the entire time.
This has to beg the question, where is all our local taxes going? We just had another increase in electricity tariffs (second one this year), sooner or later something has got to give, either the incompetent (ill spending of money) is going to ruin everything or someone is going to stand up and stop this incompetence.

Time will tell...
 
Palimino said:
Before opening your mouth perhaps you should poll some of the grassroots and see who they preferred. As bad as apartheid was for them, the ANC (as it exists) is infinitely worse.
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Your naivety and ignorance apparently knows no bounds!!! :rolleyes:

In a moment of anger an individual can be heard to say something as stupid as "I'd rather be dead than kiss/lick/eat XYZ" but anyone with the slightest bit of intelligence knows that in reality this is not the case!
 
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I am thinking the the current electricity infrastructure (which is not adequately maintained) will seize to work in the next few years/decades. Which means that power lines will not be able to handle electricity flow anymore and therefore electricity distribution will not happen in some areas. So load shedding will be the order of the day.....? I wish I can hear from an expert who has extensive knowledge about this electricity problem to inform us when will we start to have load shedding or worse......
 
Why was LancelotSA banned?
Probably the most optimistic guy in the world.
He even started a website about the wonderfull South Africa, i recall.
What happened to Postman pot?
Still around?
I have been away for quite a while it seems.
 
PostmanPot frequents the DSTV, TopTV, SABC, TV and Multimedia forum. Just look at any thread with the words LCD or Plasma in it. :D
 
BBSA said:
Sir LancelotSA had a major fall out with the mods. I understand some swear words were used.
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It is not good policy swearing at the mods.
In my experience, mods also have no sense of humour either.
 
Nzimande said that the backlog had arisen because municipal authorities, which should spend 10% of their income from energy tariffs on maintaining distribution infrastructure, have simply neglected to do so.
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They're too busy spending it on fat lunches and self-enrichment :mad:

Approx. 5 years back (when I was in Pietermaritzburg) there was a report about the frailty of their infrastructure, ticking time bomb etc. 5 years on it is virtually a given that they haven't done anything to try play catch or do the necessary. Probably the story of many other municipalities :(
 
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