Power crisis

he idea is that all users must cut electricity consumption to, say, 80% of their average usage in the past year. If they use more than that, they pay penalty tariffs. If they use less, they get tariff discounts. Simple.
Click to expand...

Which is okay as one principle. There should also be some level of minimum consumption below which the one would be exempt from the cut.

If my neighbour and I have pretty much the same property size and he is a power hog, and I already use the minimum I can (already have solar heating, and a wind generator to light my house). Its not very equitable that the hog might have to turn one room's under floor heating down a bit, and I would have to switch off the fridge...
 
XCentricdave said:
Which is okay as one principle. There should also be some level of minimum consumption below which the one would be exempt from the cut.

If my neighbour and I have pretty much the same property size and he is a power hog, and I already use the minimum I can (already have solar heating, and a wind generator to light my house). Its not very equitable that the hog might have to turn one room's under floor heating down a bit, and I would have to switch off the fridge...
Click to expand...

Agreed, many of use already try to save electricity and we're the ones going to be the worst hit.
 
It'll be ok as long as they don't actually cut people off. If people want to use more power they should be able to, they'll just be charged more. What they should really have is some sort of system where, in the case of residential users the usage of 0-100Kwh = R0.40/unit, 101-200 = R0.50, 201-300 = R0.60 or whatever.

Peak and off peak would be better but would probably be too hard to implement. Of course none of this helps if millions of people use illegal connections and don't pay anyway.
 
Then they also have to provide a means of consumers knowing when they reach red. Not just to read the meter.
Keep in mind that they also do not read meters every specific day of the month, sometimes even guess the reading.
 
This is not an easy thing for renters. I can't go and change to use a solar geaser or put in a gas stove. Thats stuff that the owner needs to get involved with. In fact, there is no way to switch off my geaser without switching off part of the house. I agree that it is necessary but they need to consider all factors. Maybe make it the owners obligation to add some stuff. I already have a gas heater so now what can I do to cut back?
 
Although a better option than load shedding, this needs a lot more thought and planning to pull off effectively. A system that is biased against consumers that are already energy-efficient won't be accepted. A system that tries to balance available capacity among areas on a threshold system similar to what TelkomInternet does just simply won't work as you'll still get those thinking they can use a little more here or there and "assume" someone else will use less to make up for it. It's just not workable.

The article I read about Brazil stated that they calculated monthly usage and forced an average household limit of 500kWh per household above which penalties were imposed and below which incentives were given. This solution could work IF the average usage can be calculated accurately and realistically. A household that already uses 500kWh or less can then basically be assured of reliable uninterrupted power unless technical mulfunctions at Eskom plants force another bout of load shedding on everyone. The trick though will be to put in place a limit which encourages households to be more energy efficient and not just cut-back on normal usage 2 or 3 days out of the week / month yet every other day they continue to waste electricity.
 
Last edited:
It's all very well and good, but, if you're like me, who is in a house of a family of three, then has a gardener staying on the property, the maid and her 2 children, where essentially paying for another families water and electricity as well. So how exactly do eskom propose culculating that?

I'm not going to exactly evict my maid and her children and my gardener because they're exhasting my quota
 
Alchemist said:
It's all very well and good, but, if you're like me, who is in a house of a family of three, then has a gardener staying on the property, the maid and her 2 children, where essentially paying for another families water and electricity as well. So how exactly do eskom propose culculating that?

I'm not going to exactly evict my maid and her children and my gardener because they're exhasting my quota
Click to expand...
Precisely why this needs to be carefully thought through before implementing.

As per Alec Erwin's statement this morning http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_2258587,00.html I hope that focus is not lost on the fact that although we should all become more energy-efficient, the residential sector only accounts for around 18% - 20% of the electricity demand and that more can be achieved for the large users to tighten their belts as quickly as possible while the 1 million solar geysers and energy-efficient lights are rolled out.

If together we all contribute to using electricity wisely, we should be able to minimise the undesirable impact of energy quotas as much as possible until the new power stations are brought online.

I just hope that Eskom and government aren't fooling themselves into thinking that come 2013 (or whenever) that the problem will be over. The economy will continue to grow and coming out of the current restrictive period I'm sure there'll be a huge increase in demand from industry so plans must still be made to provide extra capacity beyond 2013. No more bonuses to Eskom execs until 2013 would also be a good idea IMO. Let them first work for it by providing enough power for the whole country before they get paid extra.
 
Last edited:
And then there are the people who are on pre-paid. ATM one knows how much one will get for R100 but if there are price differentials one doesn't anymore.
When Cape Town had a pre-paid electricity system with a service charge, which was charged in arrears it was always annoying to go and buy e.g. R50 of electricity only to be told that the service charges had already accumulated above that.
 
risingtide said:
And then there are the people who are on pre-paid. ATM one knows how much one will get for R100 but if there are price differentials one doesn't anymore.
When Cape Town had a pre-paid electricity system with a service charge, which was charged in arrears it was always annoying to go and buy e.g. R50 of electricity only to be told that the service charges had already accumulated above that.
Click to expand...
At least on pre-paid you can see your true / actual usage and budget accordingly. The municipal / Eskom rates and billing system can always be improved upon. Afterall, we're being told there are still YEARS of this nonsense to look forward to.
 
im sorry. im not going to reduce my power consumption by 20%. thats the biggest load of crap ive ever heard.

why must i use less electricity? there is enough being generated at the moment to supply the entire country from all the stats that i have seen. if eskom got off their asses and did the nescessary maintenance and invested in shorter lead time technologies none of us would have an issue.

the only reasoning i can come up with for reducing my needs is so that eskom still has the surplus to provide the neighbouring countries so that they can still give their top management guys the massive bonuses they want.

absolute bollocks. its the same as telling everyone in sa that there is a petrol shortage and everyone needs to cut down their mileage by 20%. sod that.
 
I will fight a quota system with my last dying breath.

I already save as much as possible - have been doing so for years. Why? Because I am not fond of paying for electricity!

What on earth must I do now to save another 20%. FFS - if I could pay 20% less every month for power, would I not already do that.
Sure there are people who waste - but I am not one of them. By being frugal already, I am being prejudiced by a quota system.

Must I, as one poster already mentioned, turn off my fridge now?


[mini rant - please forgive me]
FU ESKOM!
FU ANC
[/rant]
 
let them put it in, after that just bypass the thing just abit
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X