Minister for Public Enterprises Alec Erwin has promised that high penalty tariffs are to be charged for electricity consumption in excess of a quota limit with effect from July 1. <\/p>\n
He told a questioner in the National Assembly in a written reply circulated on Tuesday: "Supply termination in cases of continuous excess consumption is being investigated." <\/p>\n
The proposals are part of a power conservation programme due to begin then, and the minerals and energy department is also looking at energy efficiency regulations, which will ban certain practices and enforce compulsory norms and standards. He did not explain what these practices nor standards were. <\/p>\n
The minister, answering a different question, told the assembly that Eskom did not foresee that the agricultural industry would have to curtail its demand for diesel in any way in order to accommodate its requirements. Since last year, all incremental diesel demand throughout the country was imported as finished product, he said. <\/p>\n
He told his questioner, who was worried about a hugely increased demand for diesel cutting back supplies to other vital users, that in the first four months of operation of the new open cycle gas turbine generators (OCTGs) from July to October 2007, approximately 105 million litres of diesel were used. About 186 million litres were used between November 2007 and February 2008. <\/p>\n
"Eskom's usage of diesel has therefore increased since January 2007," he agreed. <\/p>\n
He also said that studies had been undertaken to determine the capacity of the import infrastructure, and timely initiatives to upgrade transportation of fuel have already begun. <\/p>\n
"An environmental impact assessment, including public participation, for a fuel pipeline or rail transport solution between Montague Gardens in Cape Town and Ankerlig power station (one of the two new OCTG plants) in Atlantis, is currently under way," he said.<\/p>\n