Electricity load curtailment project back on track after initial resistance
The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality is moving ahead with a game-changing load curtailment pilot project after it was initially halted by resistance from residents.
The project will allow participants to keep lights, alarms and other essential appliances on during load-shedding.
It was launched in South End in September and touted as the blueprint for the metro to limit usage through smart meters and allow residents to meet required megawatt cuts without sectional blackouts.
Load curtailment would also help protect the metro’s distribution system, which is under immense pressure from the on-off regime introduced by load-shedding.
However, the trial was delayed after residents in the selected curtailment group refused to have smart meters installed.
The area had until November escaped scheduled loadshedding completely.
The pilot project area, comprising 125 households, was chosen because of its proximity to the South End fire station as it does not experience loadshedding.
Ward 2 councillor Renaldo Gouws said the delay was caused by a minority of owners.
“Unfortunately, the minority made it difficult but the buyin is taking place, though it is taking longer than envisaged,” Gouws said.
“There were one or two role players who wanted to stop this and not experience loadshedding, which is selfish considering that the rest of SA has to experience it and they think they should be so privileged as to not be [affected] by it,” he said.
From the targeted 125 houses, the municipality has only managed to get 27 signed up.
For the project, bulk meters and data concentrators would be installed at two substations, and smart meters would go into each household, limiting usage to 20 amps during loadshedding.
The residences would include free-standing properties, cluster houses and apartment complexes along Pier Street and Frere Close, which are all close to substations in South End.
Municipal spokesperson Mamela Ndamase said through further public engagements, initial concerns had been addressed and the metro had resumed installing the meters.
“With the office of the ward councillor we managed to conduct meetings with the community and body corporates and all these concerns were addressed and ironed out,” Ndamase said.
“There will be continuous stakeholder engagements conducted as the project progresses, to address any challenges that may arise.
“A target of 125 units has been set, 27 units have been installed and 98 units are still to be installed.
“The new timeline for the project is February.”
While Ndamase did not explain why the area had since started experiencing loadshedding, resident Aubrey du Plessis said this had encouraged more people to sign up for the project.
The power cuts started in November.
“We were lucky to have been exempt from load-shedding to begin with.
“What many people did not realise is that it would eventually come for us too,” he said.
Electricity and energy political head Zanele Sikawuti said a lack of understanding of how the project would work had been the main cause of the setback.
“We were met with a few challenges, but the biggest one was that people were not aware of how the curtailment would work.
“I am told initial attendance of public participation meetings had been poor, but upon consultation with the ward councillor we managed to get the programme to continue,” she said.
The success of the pilot would allow the city to obtain funding to roll out the project across the metro.
Eskom is also piloting this project in Johannesburg.