LOAD shedding has become a manner of life in South Africa as Eskom strives to cope with the ever increasing demand for electricity supply.
With this in mind, the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry held an Electricity Stakeholder Engagement this month, to allow businesses to have their say as eThekwini Electricity and Eskom unpacked their Load Shedding Philosophy.
The session covered how the load shedding schedule is structured, what can be done for customers, and customers were given a platform to have their say and propose solutions so businesses aren't as affected by load shedding.
The panel consisted of Durban Chamber CEO, Dumile Cele, Durban Chamber President, Zeph Ndlovu, Deputy Head of Economic Development at eThekwini Municipality, Russell Curtis, Deputy Head of Electricity at eThekwini Municipality, Roy Wienand, Head of Electricity at eThekwini Municipality, Sandile Maphumulo and Senior Manager of Customer Service at Eskom, Pool Mahadeo.
The panel assured business that they are doing their best to fight electricity constraints.
Russell Curtis, Deputy Head Economic Development at eThekwini Municipality started the discussion with an overview from the city.
Curtis said: “If we are going to find a solution, it will only come from a willing attitude. The Municipality is pleased to observe that in the last two weeks, there has been no load shedding in Durban.”
At the meeting, Deputy Head of Electricity, Roy Wienand, presented on the Network Control Environment.
Durban Chamber CEO, Dumile Cele, said: “Electricity supply systems remain an issue to all citizens. Businesses need to understand what happens behind the scenes. They need to understand the technical constrains and also adapt. We do acknowledge the amount of consideration that the city has and its willingness to accommodate businesses.”
Businesses present were impressed by the quality of the presentations by the Municipality and Eskom. Businesses engaged with the Municipality and Eskom and raised the question of load shedding versus load curtailing and were interested to learn that the Municipality and Eskom intended on implementing a programme that recognised businesses that had reduced their energy usage.
Suggestions from attending businesses included more transparency needed from the Municipality and Eskom, shedding first then curtailing, forming company groups for those willing to participate in curtailment but did not qualify due to the demand requirement. This would be assessed on a case by case basis by the city.
The Chamber would help facilitate this.
Eskom's Mahadeo reiterated that the quality of supply was non-negotiable.
