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In a show to the National Energy Regulatory of South Africa (NERSA), the power utility said the increment was incompletely being driven by buys from free power markers international Power Products (IPPs) and carbon charges – two costs which are outside of Eskom’s immediate control. These two costs alone make up around 13,8% of the mentioned increment, it said.

The gathering has likewise shown that it depends to request a further 15,07% increment in 2024 and a 10% increment in 2025. In any case, this will rely upon the genuine increment that NERSA awards Eskom this year with the controller seldom giving the power utility the full increment that is requested.

On 5 March 2021, NERSA supported a climb of 15,06% for Eskom’s immediate clients, which was accordingly carried out on 1 April 2021. A climb of 17,80% for districts was carried out on 1 July 2021. Far beyond the mentioned levy increment, Eskom said it is as yet reliant upon additional value support given by the public authority to stay a going concern.

It added that each work is being made to track down additional efficiencies inside the business, to address defilement and extortion, and to make advances into tending to city and other obligation. Eskom added that the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic and the related lockdown limitations in South Africa have had extensive outcomes and added significant descending force to a generally compromised economy.

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South Africans have again been cautioned to become acclimated to control power outages for essentially the following 5 years.

The force utility executed stage two burden shedding as it battles to recuperate from various breakdowns.

Energy expert Ted Blom blames Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter: Eighteen months ago, he said he would have all the plants refurbished and that load shedding would end. Earlier this year, he has come out to say he is not going to spend that money on refurbishing the plants and it would be a better investment to put into renewable. Blom accepts the accentuation on renewable was misguided: “It is far and away more terrible because, with renewable, they are discussing battery stockpiling. there is no utility size battery stockpiling plants accessible any place on the planet. No nation is running battery stockpiling as reinforcement.”

As load shedding was implemented the last few days, Eskom could conduct some repairs to generating units and the maintenance programme proceed. Despite the fact that they were not able to replenish emergency generation reserves, but could reply on support system.

There are still risks to some generating units, which will pressurize Eskom to implement load shedding at short notice. Electricity still needs to be used sparingly to prevent possibility of load shedding. we also have to note that water pumps are also connected to electricity that supply water to the community meaning water can also be affected by load shedding.

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JOHANNESBURG – The City of Johannesburg on Thursday said exactly that as it was aware of the intense monetary environment and pressure on residents, its rates and assessment increments increases effectively one week from now were directed by expanding operating costs

Electricity rates are now up by 14.59%, followed by sanitation and water tariffs by 6.8%. Refusal removal rates are up by 4.3% whole property rate increased by 2%.

The high power climb is connected to the energy controller Nersa giving Eskom the go-ahead to charge clients and municipality more.

City Power’s Frank Hinda said: “We’re also on the receiving end as far as this is concerned. We’re cushioning the customer given that our increase from Eskom is higher.”

“The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a devastating impact on lives and livelihoods of Johannesburg residents. This has seen many people struggling to keep up with their municipal accounts as you would all have seen. This has subsequently affected the collection of municipal rates and taxes that are a source of revenue for continued service delivery.”

Hinda said he understood that the 14.59% power climb passed on  to clients would hit residents pockets hard given the current monetary environment.

The average electricity user – prepaid or conventional – consuming 800 kilowatt-hours a month – can expect to fork out somewhere in the range  R200 and R260 more a month.

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How?

Simply add or save our whatsApp number 0443822484 to your smart phone and refresh your WhatsApp contact list, and you should be able to now send us a message directly to that number!

You can now send us a message or you can send us screen shots of the issue you are experiencing on Android, iOs, Windows mobile and Web as displayed by the images below. So go ahead and test it out! 

Our other support channels include:

Email: support@powertime.co.za

Office line: (021) 911 5611

Messenger: m.me/PowertimeZA

And of course, our live chat feature on our website!

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Research was conducted and Wright noted 3 key steps that urgently need to be implemented to help resolve the crisis faced by Eskom and the energy grid. 

1. Customer response at scale: 
   This entails an immediate focus on customer response by enabling regulations that make it possible for the businesses and homes to generate their own power.
   This does not need to take the form of going completely off-grid, but rather generating some power to complement that which is provided by Eskom.
   This could be implemented as soon as this year and would help deal with short-term power shortages.
2.  DMRE RMPPP
   The DMRE Risk Mitigation Power Purchase Programme (RMPPP) must be accelerated to address the remaining capacity and energy gaps within the country and to ensure capacity can come online timeously.
   This programme is only set to come online in 2022, said the researchers, although this could be accelerated to mid-2021. This would result in a further reduction in load shedding.
3. Implement IRP 2019
   It is important to place an immediate focus ministerial determinations for all technologies outlined in the IRP 2019, followed by the procurement process to ensure this is implemented timeously.

Reference: click here for more information.

The post In 3 Years time, Eskom load-shedding will triple appeared first on Powertime.

Rooftop Solar Panels

This is probably the most common and obvious method, if you’re looking into renewable power. Solar panels typically go on your roof, although you can also install them in your yard. If your current roof is nearing the end of its lifespan, you could also consider investing in solar shingles. Where standard rooftop solar panels are mounted on top of your current roof, solar shingles actually take the place of your roof tiles.

Wind Turbines

Wind turbines are commonly found on wind-farms or floating offshore somewhere, but if you have enough real estate you can install a small wind turbine on your property to power your home.

Solar Oven

Maybe you’re not ready to power your entire home with renewable energy as yet. That’s a big project, and maybe it’s just not feasible for various reasons. You can still power a part of your home with renewable energy by building a solar oven. Solar ovens are typically a science fair project, but ovens actually use quite a bit of electricity. Using the sun to passively heat your food is a good way to get started in the world of renewable energy.

Hydro Power

This won’t work for most people, but if your property contains a source of flowing water, you’re in luck. You can divert some or all of the stream or river to flow through a turbine and power your home.

Solar Water Heating

Solar water heaters use the sun to heat a reserve of water, which can then be pumped through your radiators or out your faucets or showerheads. This system is much cheaper than using gas or electricity to heat your water, and is easier to install than solar panels.

Solar Air Conditioning

Air conditioning uses more electricity than almost anything else in your home. Air conditioning can cost you quite a bit amount of money every year, especially if you have central air and you live in a hot climate. Using hot water to cool your home can save you money and help the environment.

Tesla Powerwall

The Powerwall is a large rechargeable battery that can store several kilowatt-hours of electricity. On its own, it can be programmed to charge itself from the grid when electricity is on, and discharge when you’re hit by load-shedding or there is a disruption in the supply.

The post 7 Ways to Solar Power your Home appeared first on Powertime.

Hot Water

No-cost

• Use less hot water – Shower instead of bathing, Do not let the hot water run unnecessarily, use cold water to wash your hands instead.
• Turn your geyser down to 60°C. Turning your geyser down from 70˚C to 60˚C will see a 5% reduction in your hot water electricity bill. In some cases, 55°C is a good option (but not below that for health risk reasons)
• Switch off your geyser when you go away for a few days or more and during peak hours.

Low-cost

• Insulate your water pipes and wrap your geyser in a geyser blanket.
• Install a geyser timer.
• Switch to a low-flow, energy and water efficient aerated showerhead
• Fix leaking hot water taps.

Lighting

No-cost

• Turn off the lights if you leave a room for more than five minutes.
• Maximise sunlight. Open the curtains in the morning rather than turning on lights.

low-cost

• Replace traditional incandescent light bulbs with Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)
• Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) remain a somewhat more affordable way to save,
• Use solar powered lights in your garden

Appliances

No-Cost

• Switch off all unused appliances at the wall.
• Only use your washing machine once a full load of dirty laundry has accumulated
• Use cold-water or lower heat settings as often as possible.
• Skip the pre-wash cycle for clothes that aren’t particularly dirty
• Never overload your automatic washing machine
• When using a kettle, boil only as much water as you need

Low-Cost

• Invest in a front-loading washing machine instead of a top loader. It uses less water and costs less to operate
• Have the seals in your fridge replaced to keep the cold air in
• Choose a dishwasher model with a no-heat air-drying feature to save even more electricity, if you can’t use a cloth to dry the dishes or let them drip-dry instead.

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More than half of the country’s refining capacity has been shut down in line with lockdown regulations. When lockdown was instated on march 26, there was restricted activity on essential services. As the rules have begun relaxing, more industries that need diesel will begin operations.

“The South African Petroleum Industry Association (SAPIA) can confirm that there is currently a shortage of diesel in the country. Since the easing of lockdown restrictions and the transition from Alert Level 5 to Alert Level, the opening of the economy has resulted in a more rapid recovery than expected to continue to the end of May.”

Diesel shortages might continue until mid-June, and it is likely to hit Kwazulu-Natal and the interior of the country most.

Stockpiles of diesel are running low, the department of Mineral Resources and Energy said in a reply to questions. “Unplanned equipment shutdowns were also a factor in the shortage,” said Sapia

The good news is that petrol is not affected. A spokesperson for Sapia said the demand for petrol had declined by 60% during lockdown, which meant that producers had sufficient supply. In addition, the organisation said that the demand for the petrol since the opening of the economy has not increased as dramatically as it has for diesel.

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The tweet stated that “Please switch off any unnecessary lights, geyser, pool pump, and non-essential appliances such as dishwashers” this is very crucial to beat load-shedding during winter.

Andre de Ruyter told the Parliament that the risk of load-shedding in the next quarter had reduced substantially compared with their previous predictions.

“After lockdown, we will see the initial 31 days of the stage 1 load-shedding that we had anticipated for the next quarter being reduced to only three days,” said De Ruyter.

He continues by saying this was based on a load reduction of 2,000MW due to the impact of the corona virus pandemic on electricity usage.

Mantshansha said despite demand picking up since alert 4 of the lockdown was implemented, Eskom does not expect load-shedding to be required any time soon. he also stated that “Eskom is comfortable it has the capacity to supply electricity without the need to implement load-shedding” but he also encourages consumers to better manage demand and use electricity sparingly and to smooth out the winter demand profile.

While the risk of the load-shedding is always there, Eskom expects to go through the winter without having to implement load-shedding. At most, our plan makes provision for three days of load-shedding.

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