Why bother cutting on power usage?

Paulr said:
Personally, I started making a serious effort to save as much power as possible (without sacrificing quality of life) since the beginning of the year. Two reasons for that, 1 - all savings add up and might help to avoid loadshedding so I'll do my bit and 2 - My utilities bill will be less, saving some money!

But since then, with all the crap Eskom and Government came up with, point no. 1 has fallen away.

It doesn't matter how much you or I try to save, we'll be penalised to make sure that the bonusses can still be paid. And, no matter how much we save, they'll still cut us off for some crap excuse, and to try and force us into such a mentality that we'll end up paying whatever just to have some power.

This whole "power shortage" story is staring to stink, and stink badly... :mad: :sick:
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I agree. Eskom is saying that municipalities that don't cut their usage by 10% will be shed. My municipality has 800,000 people and I would like to know from Eskom - 10% of what? My municipality hasn't even published shedding times let alone what individual suburbs should target themselves to save and what the current shortfall status is. Give us some figures to work on and towards.

Eskom's bonuses not safe

However, the real boost for bonuses will come when Eskom is allowed to hike its tariffs by 50 percent-plus in financial 2009. Unless the operating profit key performance indicator is adjusted to account for the effect of the tariff hikes, Eskom executives stand to benefit enormously from the huge increase in electricity bills that consumers will be forced to pay.
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The bonus criteria for Eskom executives is up the spout. It pisses me off that they get bonuses at all for the mess that they have got us into. Bonuses paid for reaching performance targets in certain areas should be offset with penalties for not reaching critical performance targets like power generation and investment in infrastructure. Win-win bonuses are behind the short-term thinking of the biggest management failure in South Africa's history.
 
These arguments always seem to be based on everything always being someone else's problem. It is a bit like dealing with kindergarten kids...

"It wasn't me it was him..."

"But why can't I watch TV, I didn't..."

You are part of South Africa as a country, play your part.

Even more so you are part of a globe which is suffering, do your bit.

Asking an open question and then shunning an answer of environmental issues pretty much shows you already know the answer you are wanting....
 
Oh - go clean a beach or something.

If you bothered to read and comprehend this isn't a philosophical question about why we are here and whether there used to be leopards in the mountains. It is a question about whether saving 10% makes any difference to whether you'll be cut or not.

And I think we all know the answer to that question - yes, you will cut irrespective of whether you have cut your consumption by 10% or not. So, why should we bother? Eishcom has already decided that they will force you to save 10% by cutting you off - and that, by the way, also 'saves' the environment.

And the answer to the underlying question? Eishcomm lie. The reason why you get cut off is so that they can ship power across the borders.

But here you go - I've given up on saving energy. You can have that monkey - go do your bit and save 20%.
 
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Albereth said:
Oh - go clean a beach or something.

If you bothered to read and comprehend this isn't a philosophical question about why we are here and whether there used to be leopards in the mountains. It is a question about whether saving 10% makes any difference to whether you'll be cut or not.

And I think we all know the answer to that question - yes, you will cut irrespective of whether you have cut your consumption by 10% or not. So, why should we bother? Eishcom has already decided that they will force you to save 10% but cutting you off - and that, by the way, also 'saves' the environment.

And the answer to the underlying question? Eishcomm lie. The reason why you get cut off is so that they can ship power across the borders.

But here you go - I've given up on saving energy. You can have that monkey - go do your bit and save 20%.
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Lol - anyways - I save routinely - because I abhor waste.
Now, that puts me in a pickle - since I already save so much, how can I now save an additional 10%? Not going to happen.

I hereby also offer my "10%" to the hippie who wants to do my share too.
 
Albereth said:
Oh - go clean a beach or something.

If you bothered to read and comprehend this isn't a philosophical question about why we are here and whether there used to be leopards in the mountains. It is a question about whether saving 10% makes any difference to whether you'll be cut or not.

And I think we all know the answer to that question - yes, you will cut irrespective of whether you have cut your consumption by 10% or not. So, why should we bother? Eishcom has already decided that they will force you to save 10% but cutting you off - and that, by the way, also 'saves' the environment.

And the answer to the underlying question? Eishcomm lie. The reason why you get cut off is so that they can ship power across the borders.

But here you go - I've given up on saving energy. You can have that monkey - go do your bit and save 20%.
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And then I read your sig. Oh the irony.
 
BlueCollar said:
And then I read your sig. Oh the irony.
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There is a point in there though: eskom and government have done all they can to obfuscate what is really going on with the power. At this point in time its not clear that even if we all saved 10% or more that they would stop with the loadshedding.

There have been so many lies told to us by government and eskom that you can understand why some people are starting to question their honesty in this matter.
 
Actually, it is interesting, drawing the analogy between Albereth's sig and a lot of people's feelings.

I also tried to "save my bit" to help the so called power shortage, and I'm pretty sure most people came to the party and did their bit. So the savings were achieved, because of the huge amount of people and company's that did their bit.

So now, they move on to stage 2 of the lies and nonsense, since we performed better than they hoped..... Except that we are starting to see through it more and more...

So now, if I run my poolpump a bit longer and we do get loadshedded, I just think "Ah well, would have happened anyway."
 
Why do we bother educating our children? They won't get a job anyhow... Why do we bother washing our clothes? It will just soil again anyhow... Why do we bother doing open heart surgery on a 80 year old? He/she only has a few years left anyhow...

Because it is the right thing to do!!!!

Enough of this "why must I" stuff. The Great Trek strated for this very reason - for once - let the rainbow nation work together and forget who started what. Yes, Eskom is a bunch of @#$%s and they do not deserve their huge bonusses, but complaining about it will not solve the problem. Both Japan and Germany (and Britain, off course) were flattened during the 2nd WW. Much worse that Eskom's planned blackouts, I assure you. Unlike South Africans - who always need to blame someone or something - they went to work and rebuilt their countries. Needless to say, both Germany and Japan count under the world's top three economies.

But this little country is still feeding of the bottom of the ocean despite the fact that we to could have been like Japan and Germany - but no- people like you refused to stop blaming and to take one for the team.

Grow up!
 
Paulr said:
Actually, it is interesting, drawing the analogy between Albereth's sig and a lot of people's feelings.

I also tried to "save my bit" to help the so called power shortage, and I'm pretty sure most people came to the party and did their bit. So the savings were achieved, because of the huge amount of people and company's that did their bit.

So now, they move on to stage 2 of the lies and nonsense, since we performed better than they hoped..... Except that we are starting to see through it more and more...

So now, if I run my poolpump a bit longer and we do get loadshedded, I just think "Ah well, would have happened anyway."
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I beg to differ - I don't think most people did their bit at all. I travel a lot for work and the number of places I stay at or offices I visit that make no attempt at all to save on power is greater than those that I've seen that do, by quite a long way.
 
I agree. Only a few people went through the effort of saving. Quite a few of the people living around me still use normal bulbs, leave them on, etc. Business is also to blame - how many buildings being illuminated at night with huge 1000watt + spots are evident? Parking garages with zillions of flourescent lights (albeit more efficient, still way too many lights) on for the full weekend, buildings with all the lights on in the offices. Etc. Surely there is no need to leave office lights on. If you absolutely have to illuminate your building - use energy saving spots. Why leave the company's empty parking garage lights on? If safety is a concern - at least install a relay or timer that will switch 1/2 or 2/3 of the lights off after hours.

I do not mind saving energy - I think it is the right thing to do. But everyone must come to the party.
 
JungleRumble said:
I do not mind saving energy - I think it is the right thing to do. But everyone must come to the party.
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Point is, according to a survey mentioned on another thread, most people have come to the party and we're still having blackouts.

Yet we still provide power to an aluminium smelter, Namibia, the Carlton Centre, etc. Why? Because someone thinks a thousand jobs are a major difference, idjits enter into idiotic contracts, and someone knows someone at City Power.

So frankly, we can all reduce our consumption of electricity all we like, whether we are green, doing the right thing, or trying to save money - but you are still going to get cut.

So, in order for you 'play the game' you will pay money. Even if it is a 'little' thing like buying efficient light bulbs.

Save your money, and turn things off - the TV and the cell phone charger - when you are not at home. But don't do any more - Eishkom is going to manage (and if ever there was a misuse of a word) your consumption anyway. Whether you like it or not.
 
You are quite correct - heard an Eskom spokesman on KFM this morning acknowledging the survey results. At least they cannot maintain that we mere mortals are not saving. Guess we will have to wait and see. I must admit - us Capetonians are not as hard hit - it seems that the Council is sticking to its published schedule (in my neighbourhoood, at least). I am only "shedded" once a week on a Friday afternoon for 2.5hrs.
 
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