Load-shedding strikes and bills hike

The energy crisis has hit South Africa with a bang- almost quite literally as power outages affect the country nationwide.

Reports state national power supplier, Eskom will be out of money and quite possibly out of luck by the end of the month. President Jacob Zuma admitted the Government did not know about Eskom’s failing financial structure.

This statement comes years after Eskom asked Parliament to reassess the energy delivery systems of the country in 1998 during former President Thabo Mbeki’s rule.

Reports show that in 2007 Eskom once again asked the Government for a ‘proper’ direction before beginning the first of the country’s rolling blackouts and load-shedding.

According to a report on moneyweb.co.za on Monday during a private meeting, Eskom CEO Tshediso Matona told stakeholders an unexpected event at any of its power stations could could push the country to the total failure of the national electricity system that may take weeks to resolve.

Furthermore, Eskom CEOs were desperate for a bail-out from Government as its diesel budget had been sapped dry.

According to a calendar shown to delegates, power failures are a possibility from the middle of January, the whole of February, March and April.

Mr Matona said Eskom’s interim profit of R9.3-billion will be wiped out in the second half and a mere R500-million profit is being projected for FY2014/15, and delegates questioned Eskom’s reluctance to address the issue of several municipalities in the country that owe the parastatal millions.

Nestled at the foot of the Majuba mountain range, Newcastle has seemingly been unaffected by the load-shedding crisis.

The key word in that sentence is seemingly. Although it may not be prominent, the load-shedding crisis has undoubtedly hit Newcastle.

Many parts of the country may experience rolling blackouts, but smartly the Newcastle Municipality manages to avoid this by switching off home geysers.

“Whenever the country load-sheds, Newcastle Municipality also participates in this process. There are three stages of load-shedding, namely, stage 1, 2 and 3,” explained Strategic Executive Director of Electrical Services, Lindile Zincume.

According to the three stages of load-shedding, the municipality has to shed a certain amount of electricity.

On stage 1, the municipality is expected to load-shed approximately 8MVA, stage 2 approximately 12MVA and 21MVA for stage 3.

“The municipality is able to achieve this by controlling a varying number of geyser channels using ripple control. As the town grows, it is important that all new houses are fitted with ripple control devices to maintain, this otherwise the town may find itself in darkness.”

Just like every other town and city in South Africa, Newcastle also receives it electrical supply from Eskom.

Luckily, the energy supplied to Newcastle by Eskom is achieved from two sources, namely Eskom’s own electrical grid and Independent Power Producers.

Bills will rise so tighten up your budgets:

With increasingly high monthly electricity bills, residents are advised to further tighten their purse strings as an increase in the monthly electrical tariffs can be expected in the next municipal financial year.

According to Mr Zincume, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) will submit to council its rates during the budget process for approval.

“NERSA has advised municipalities to structure their 2015/16 electricity tariffs based on the 12.69 per cent guideline and provide for a 14.24 per cent increase in the cost of bulk purchases for the tabled 2015/16 budgets and MTREF,” he concluded.