Archive for the ‘Electricity News’ Category

Johannesburg – Nersa’s decision to grant Eskom a 27.5 percent tariff increase is a “watershed” moment, the power utility said in Midrand on Thursday.

“It is bold, courageous and it’s very responsible,” said Eskom chief executive Jacob Maroga.

Maroga said the decision gave a clear message about where the energy regulator believed tariffs should go in the future.

In particular the regulator’s acknowledgement, if current assumptions remained, that a 20% to 25% tariff increase could be on the cards in the next three years was welcomed by Maroga.

On not getting the requested 53% increase, Maroga said: “It’s not about a single number”.

What was more important was to see that the regulator could be flexible and proactive about variations in the situation.

Eskom would be spending R343 billion over the next five years and about R1.3 trillion by 2025 in capital expansion programmes, said Maroga.

- Sapa

Pretoria – Eskom has been granted an additional 13.3% average increaseon top of the 14.2% already approved in December, the National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa) said on Wednesday.

The regulator decided to allow Eskom to recover additional primary energy costs of R2.827bn through its electricity tariff which amounts to a 13.3% average increase, Nersa chairman Collin Matjila said.

The increase is well below the 53% or 60% nominal increase that Eskom had asked for.

- Sapa

News 24

Eskom: No repeat of Jan 2008
Jan 11 2009 09:48

Johannesburg – South African utility Eskom, which is emerging from one of its busiest maintenance period ever, said it was ready to face rising demand after the festive season and avoid last January’s crippling power crisis.

Eskom’s maintenance peaked during December and the first week of January with up to 9 000 megawatts (MW) out of service, spokesperson Fani Zulu told Reuters late on Thursday.

“We are reducing the amount of maintenance now to cater for the demand slowly increasing … now we are close to 5 800 megawatts of planned maintenance going on,” Zulu said.

State-owned Eskom, which provides 95% of the country’s power, saw a near-collapse of its national grid in January last year, forcing mines and smelters to shut down for days, and costing Africa’s biggest economy billions of dollars.

Eskom has since rationed electricity and urged big consumers to save energy to ease the shortage, which critics says was caused by a lack of investment in new generation capacity.

Zulu said demand for power fell by as much as 1 500 MW late last year after smelters shut down furnaces on the back of the global economic slowdown, which cut demand for metals.

It gave Eskom a breathing space, but did not entirely erase the risk of power cuts with the reserve margin being low.

“Load shedding (power cuts) is always a possibility and that is a direct result of a low reserve margin,” he said.

The margin or spare capacity was at 8%, far from the utility’s target of 15%.

Stockpiles

To secure power supplies, Eskom, which relies on coal for most of its power generation, bought some 2 million tonnes of export-grade coal in 2008 to boost its stockpiles, which had fallen to dangerously low levels last year.

“Coal stocks are healthy now at just above 37 days,” Zulu said.

To avoid power cuts, the utility said consumption would need to drop by 10 percent. It has seen a drop of 5 percent so far.

“The bulk of that came from industrial customers, largely the mines … there is a lot of room to do some more work in the commercial and residential sectors,” Zulu said.

South Africa’ power regulator (NERSA) laid out new proposals to conserve power, under which users will have to pay a charge in addition to regular tariffs if they exceed prescribed limits.

Eskom has said it plans to spend a total of about R343bn over five years on new capacity, with assistance from the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the government and its own tariff increases.

Zulu said Eskom would submit the application for the tariff increase in the next couple of weeks.

“We need to look at the impact of the crisis on Eskom, its new build programme and what it means in terms of the long-term demand prospects – we need to review all these before we can submit the application.”

The power regulator last June approved a total 27% tariff hike, short of a 53% hike requested by Eskom.

- Reuters

Groot boetes kom as jy nie nou krag bespaar

BEELD – Dec 15 2008 08:58:37:790PM

Verbruikers kan in die toekoms boetes van tot R9 per eenheid elektrisiteit betaal as hulle nie krag bespaar nie.

Die Nasionale Energiereguleerder (Nersa) het verlede week voorlopige reëls gepubliseer waarvolgens verbruikers beboet kan word. Luidens dié dokument is aanvraagkantbestuur die enigste manier om die “situasie te stabiliseer en die risiko van ontwrigtende beurtkrag te voorkom”.

Om dié rede het die nasionale elektrisiteitreaksiespan ’n kragbesparingprogram saamgestel wat ’n gemiddelde energiebesparing van 10% met boetes gaan probeer afdwing. ie voorlopige reëls bepaal September 2006 tot Oktober 2007 is die basistydperk. Verbruikers gaan beboet word as hulle nie ’n sekere persentasie minder as die gemiddelde kragverbruik in die basistydperk gebruik nie. Me. Nelisiwe Magubane, adjunk-direkteur-generaal van minerale en energie, sê dié boetes gaan van einde volgende jaar stelselmatig in verskillende sektore bekend gestel word.

“Ons gaan eers op die sowat 150 groot kliënte fokus, soos die myne, nywerhede en die kommersiële sektor,” het sy gister aan Beeld gesê.

Magubane sê huishoudings staan laaste in die tou om boetes te begin betaal en gaan waarskynlik eers in die middel van 2011 deel van die stelsel word. Verskillende sektore gaan verskillende besparingteikens hê om die gemiddelde besparingteiken van 10% te bereik. Dié verskillende besparingteikens is nog nie vasgestel nie.

Magubane sê die gewildste voorstel vir besparing is:

• mynwese en landbou 8%;
• kommersieel en residensieel 20%; en
• geboue van die regering en staatsentiteite 25%.

Hoe minder hulle daarin slaag om genoeg te bespaar, hoe groter is die boetes (sien kassie).

Volgens Magubane gaan in ag geneem word dat sommige maatskappye se produksie “seisoenaal” is en dat hulle dus byvoorbeeld in Junie baie meer krag gebruik as in Januarie. Die hoeveelheid krag wat maandeliks gebruik mag word, gaan vir elk van die groot verbruikers individueel bepaal word volgens hul behoeftes.

Magubane erken dit gaan moeilik wees om dié boetes by huishoudings in werking te stel.

Een van die probleme is onder meer dat meterlesings nie op presies dieselfde dag elke maand geneem word nie. “Ons het munisipaliteite gevra om solank daarna te kyk,” het sy gesê.

Die reëls maak voorsiening vir aanpassings aan die gemiddelde kragverbruik in die basistydperk. Moontlike redes vir aanpassings sluit in:

• beurtkrag in die basistydperk;
• as die kliënt op Eskom se versoek sy verbruik in die basistydperk verminder het;
• foutiewe meterlesings wat in die basistydperk laer elektrisiteitsverbruik getoon het as wat werklik die geval was; en
• as die eiendom van eienaar verwissel het sedert Oktober 2006.

Die reël-dokument is beskikbaar by www.nersa.org.za. Lede van die publiek kan tot 23 Januarie volgende jaar kommentaar lewer.

Die voorgestelde boetes.

Die boetes is in drie kategorieë verdeel:

Die Kontrolegroep

• Die boete is R2,80/kWh. Verbruikers wat ’n toegelate maksimumaanvraag van meer as 1 megavolt-ampère het en 1% te veel krag gebruik, betaal dié boete.
• Verbruikers wat ’n toegelate maksimumaanvraag van 1 megavolt-ampère of minder het en 2,5% te veel krag gebruik, gaan ook dié boete betaal.

Die Hindernisgroep

• Die boete is R4,50/kWh. As die kragverbruik meer is as wat in die kontrolegroep genoem word, maar nie meer as 10% te veel is nie, betaal verbruikers dié boete.

Die Strafgroep

• Die boete is R9,00/kWh en gaan gehef word as die kragverbruik meer as 10% te veel is.

Aldi Schoeman (Beeld)

South Africa’s recent electricity problems taught us all to think about the energy we use everyday. There’s never enough energy to waste! Because of the Soccer World Cup in 2010, we have to learn how to save energy so there is enough to go round when the fun begins. Here are some tips you can do to save electricity – take them up today!

Change a Light

• We really can change the world one light bulb at a time. The key is that the more people that take this step, the more we can change the world.
• Tell your parents about energy efficient light bulbs called Compact Fluorescent Lamps.
• They are the funky looking ones that you can’t see through, and they use about 80 per cent less electricity and last six times as long!

Fight the Light!

• Don’t leave lights on when no one is in the room.
• If you are going to be out of the room for more than five minutes, turn it off.
• If you know of a light that everyone forgets to turn off, make a sticker or a sign to hang next to the switch that says “Lights Out!” or “Don’t Forget!”

Don’t Leave Things Turned On

• Turn off the TV when no one is watching it.
• The same goes for computers, radios and stereos – if no one using it, turn it off.
• Turn off all the appliances at the power strip – that’s the four- or six-plug extension chord that you plug all your electrical things into.
• Some devices like cell phone chargers draw small amounts of power all the time.
• The best thing to do is pull them all out!

It’s a Matter of Degrees in the heat of summer!

• When it’s really hot and you just want to sit and chill, close all the doors to the room where you are sitting and pull the curtains.
• That way, the sun’s heat won’t get into the room and you’ll stay cool.
• Fans use a lot less electricity than air conditioners, so use the whirly birds wherever possible.
• If you do have an air-con machine, make sure you close all the doors and windows in the room where you’ll be sittin’ chillin’.
• That way the machine won’t have use so much energy to get the place cool.

In the Bedroom

• Don’t leave on your computer, TVs, radios or games that use electricity when you’re not using them.

In the Bathroom

• Wasting water wastes electricity. Why? Because the biggest use of electricity in most cities is supplying water and cleaning it up after it’s been used!
• If you have an old fashioned toilet, put a brick in the tank above the seat. This’ll mean you use less water every time you pull the flush handle.
• Drippy taps are bad, too. A tap that leaks enough water to fill a soda bottle every 30 minutes will waste about 8.300 litres of water a year.
• Another simple way to save water AND energy is to take shorter showers.
• You’ll use less hot water – and water heaters account for nearly 1/4 of your home’s energy use.

In the Kitchen

• Close the fridge door! Don’t keep it open any longer than you need to keep all the cold air in.
• To check if the door seals properly and isn’t loosing cool air close the door on a R10 not, and then see how easy it is to pull out. I
• f the note slides out easily, the door is probably leaking cold air from inside.

Shocking News About Batteries

• Turn off the toys and games (like PSPs) that use batteries when you are not playing with them.
• That will makes the batteries last longer, and you won’t need as many or charge them as often.

Outside the House

• If your family leaves a security light on overnight, change the incandescent bulb to the compact fluorescent ones we were talking about earlier.
• Some compact fluorescent lamps come in yellow so they won’t attract bugs.

Think About What Your Family Buys

• If you buy things that can be used over and over instead of buying disposable items that are used once and then thrown away, you will save the materials used to produce them and you’ll reduce the amount of landfill space we need when they are thrown away.
• When your family goes shopping, take shopping bags with you to save having to buy new ones.
• Plastic bags start out as either oil or natural gas and oil and natural gas are non-renewable.

In Your School

• The energy-saving ideas you used at home can also be used in school.
• Get your teacher to create a weekly “energy monitor” – someone whose job it is to make sure lights are out when there’s no one in a room.
• He or she can also make sure that electrical machines are turned off when not being used too.

It is important to save energy.

It’s not possible to stop using energy, but we can try to use it in a smarter way – or, put it another way, to use our energy resources more efficiently.

If we use up all our fossil fuels, there will not be any left for people to use in the future. Remember – it’s in your power to use energy efficiently.

Our energy resources – coal, electricity, gas, and liquid fuels – are not limitless, so it’s up to all of us to become energy wise.

That means you; your family, your friends and every other South African must start using energy efficiently.