Truth about Eskom's smart meter control of your geyser

[Daniel Puchert]

Truth about Eskom's plan to switch off your geyser

Eskom's smart meter rollout will not give the utility control over households' geysers or other appliances but will enable the company to continue providing lower amounts of power during load-shedding.

The idea that Eskom wants to control people's geysers likely stems from comments made by electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa in an interview with eNCA in June 2023.

 

[wingnut771]

In Brisbane Australia, you get 2 phases to the house, essential and non-essential. Non-essential has a much lower tariff than the normal connection so you connect your geyser/pool pump etc to that. When the utility needs to loadshed, they loadshed the non-essential phase.

 

[mpdjhb]

We had these limiters in the heady days of Eskom when it was the best utility provider in the world.
It is the right move and people should support it.
Its also used all over the world - some with switches and some through higher time of use tariffs.

 

[wingnut771]

We had these limiters in the heady days of Eskom when it was the best utility provider in the world.
It is the right move and people should support it.
Its also used all over the world - some with switches and some through higher time of use tariffs.

Yes, ripple switches were a thing all the way back to the 70's. ANC always thinks they are reinventing the wheel.

 

[quovadis]

One of the better articles on Eskom's load limiting endeavours. Kudos.

 

[Swa]

We had these limiters in the heady days of Eskom when it was the best utility provider in the world.
It is the right move and people should support it.
Its also used all over the world - some with switches and some through higher time of use tariffs.

The irony is it makes little difference to the overall usage and simply shifts large loads around. Bet this was another election ploy to look good like they're doing something and afterwards we'll hear about corrupt deals again. Smart meters are also used for a different purpose in other parts of the world, we're not there yet.

 

[isie]

The irony is it makes little difference to the overall usage and simply shifts large loads around. Bet this was another election ploy to look good like they're doing something and afterwards we'll hear about corrupt deals again. Smart meters are also used for a different purpose in other parts of the world, we're not there yet.

This is actually different
Loadsheding itself just shits the load and a few years back it made a difference in over simple terms the stuff you could not use you didn't end up using extra power when the loadshedding time ended now everyone had inverter so what ever you supposedly saved you end up using to charge up so really shifts the load and you probably using more then you would initially

We were once if the neighborhoods on the pilot for this and the negativity from the neighborhood at the startbut once it was implemented almost everyone ( we have some children masquerading as adults who can't understand how to limit themselves) changed their tune.
Plus if you have a decent inverter you can still run more then the limited amount and still charge up the batteries again and still be under the limit

 

[wingnut771]

This is actually different
Loadsheding itself just shits the load and a few years back it made a difference in over simple terms the stuff you could not use you didn't end up using extra power when the loadshedding time ended now everyone had inverter so what ever you supposedly saved you end up using to charge up so really shifts the load and you probably using more then you would initially

We were once if the neighborhoods on the pilot for this and the negativity from the neighborhood at the startbut once it was implemented almost everyone ( we have some children masquerading as adults who can't understand how to limit themselves) changed their tune.
Plus if you have a decent inverter you can still run more then the limited amount and still charge up the batteries again and still be under the limit

This doesn't work if you scale it up.

 

[quovadis]

This doesn't work if you scale it up.

Don’t see why it wouldn’t.

 

[isie]

This doesn't work if you scale it up.

Explain why?
To me loadsheding doesn't work at all anymore plus the added issue of messing up infrastructure here infrastructure isn't affected .
If you referring to heavy industries they pretty much already have deals with eskom to cut power even when not loadshedding

 

[wingnut771]

Don’t see why it wouldn’t.

Explain why?
To me loadsheding doesn't work at all anymore plus the added issue of messing up infrastructure here infrastructure isn't affected .
If you referring to heavy industries they pretty much already have deals with eskom to cut power even when not loadshedding

I would say with a big enough pool, the average usage would be around 5A, so putting a 10A limit on it will do nothing to lower demand. The only times it will help I guess is during morning and evening peak times. In the UK they pay you nearly R6/kWh to feed in between 4pm and 10pm. Then the money wasted on this smart meter is worth it.

 

[supersunbird]

This is actually different
Loadsheding itself just shits the load and a few years back it made a difference in over simple terms the stuff you could not use you didn't end up using extra power when the loadshedding time ended now everyone had inverter so what ever you supposedly saved you end up using to charge up so really shifts the load and you probably using more then you would initially

We were once if the neighborhoods on the pilot for this and the negativity from the neighborhood at the startbut once it was implemented almost everyone ( we have some children masquerading as adults who can't understand how to limit themselves) changed their tune.
Plus if you have a decent inverter you can still run more then the limited amount and still charge up the batteries again and still be under the limit

With loadshedding less units used. Now that it's gone, power usage is 20 to 30% higher again. Just personal experience. No big inverter, just a few small devices to keep stuff like internet and CCTV working, and a few lights.

 

[quovadis]

I would say with a big enough pool, the average usage would be around 5A, so putting a 10A limit on it will do nothing to lower demand. The only times it will help I guess is during morning and evening peak times. In the UK they pay you nearly R6/kWh to feed in between 4pm and 10pm. Then the money wasted on this smart meter is worth it.

I think you're looking at this rather simplistically. It's just maths and load shedding to 0A or 10A is just a load management with a different floor.

 

[Swa]

This is actually different
Loadsheding itself just shits the load and a few years back it made a difference in over simple terms the stuff you could not use you didn't end up using extra power when the loadshedding time ended now everyone had inverter so what ever you supposedly saved you end up using to charge up so really shifts the load and you probably using more then you would initially

We were once if the neighborhoods on the pilot for this and the negativity from the neighborhood at the startbut once it was implemented almost everyone ( we have some children masquerading as adults who can't understand how to limit themselves) changed their tune.
Plus if you have a decent inverter you can still run more then the limited amount and still charge up the batteries again and still be under the limit

The only difference here is you'll use extra on stuff like lights, tv and computer. The article even mentions how to work around it if you have appliances that use less electricity for longer. So where is load being shed? How can it work when it's everybody? Where does load get shed then?

 

[wingnut771]

The only difference here is you'll use extra on stuff like lights, tv and computer. The article even mentions how to work around it if you have appliances that use less electricity for longer. So where is load being shed? How can it work when it's everybody? Where does load get shed then?

When they increase the stage level because the shedding isn't enough and these people go off anyway.

 

[Longboi]

Yeah I ripped off all of those "smart meters" and gave them to the scrap-metal thieves to sell.

 

[supersunbird]

The irony is it makes little difference to the overall usage and simply shifts large loads around. Bet this was another election ploy to look good like they're doing something and afterwards we'll hear about corrupt deals again. Smart meters are also used for a different purpose in other parts of the world, we're not there yet.

Then why am I using less units (usually 20 to 30% less) when there is loadshedding in effect?

 

[quovadis]

The only difference here is you'll use extra on stuff like lights, tv and computer. The article even mentions how to work around it if you have appliances that use less electricity for longer. So where is load being shed? How can it work when it's everybody? Where does load get shed then?

The same way you shed load when you're switched off. Load limiting sets a maximum load and usage per household and is therefore just as predictable. Eskom have the luxury of knowing now from all their trials the typical load for large suburbs with typical usage and usage under load shedding. They just now apply that to a new model.

 

[Swa]

Then why am I using less units (usually 20 to 30% less) when there is loadshedding in effect?

Why are you? Probably all the stuff I mentioned you can't use. Unless you're running things like pool pumps large appliances mostly make up for it when the power resumes.

 

[Swa]

The same way you shed load when you're switched off. Load limiting sets a maximum load and usage per household and is therefore just as predictable.

I'm not talking about being predictable. I'm talking about the fact that it still shifts the large loads around but you then have a bunch of smaller extra loads.