IN winter the city’s power network is prone to outages in most, if not all, areas supplied by City Power. This is mainly due to an increase in the demand for electricity, resulting in overloading of the network as well as equipment failure.
In an effort to reduce the number of unplanned outages, City Power has prepared a Winter Plan.
The Winter Plan’s key focus will be on areas of the network that experience repeated outages on the same day or week. It also prioritises resources to address these challenges. This includes equipping technicians with fast-moving spares, strategic material and consumables.
City Power also plans to increase the number of technicians attending to outages in their areas of supply. More teams will be dispatched to attend to outages an respond to emergency calls. The plan has already driven City Power to proactively replace and repair sections of cables that have contributed to repeated outages.
As far as possible, aluminium cables are being used, as these are of no value to cable thieves.
Continuous monitoring of the network, maintenance and new technologies are part of ongoing efforts to reduce outages.
The effectiveness of the Winter Plan is not only dependent upon measures put in place but also requires cooperation from everyone who uses electricity.
With May being Energy Month, City Power wants to raise awareness about saving energy. It is urging everyone to become more mindful of saving electricity every day. This can be achieved in a number of simple and cost-effective ways.
Consider alternatives and less intensive heating methods, such as gas, compact fluorescent lighting, solar water heaters and heat generation through conventional fireplaces.
City Power is relying on its customers to make the necessary adjustments to save electricity in their households. This in turn will ease pressure on the grid and prevent unplanned outages.
As part of saving energy, it is important to note these key principles of energy efficiency:
• Switch off electricity when not in use.
• Use or change to energy-efficient appliances and lighting (CFLs, LED lights, infrared heaters).
• Use alternative energy sources (solar heating and gas).
Save on your electricity bill by doing the following:
• Set your pool pump to run for shorter periods.
• Switch off lights in unoccupied rooms.
• Use electric blankets to pre-heat the bed for approximately 15 minutes (do not sleep with electric blankets on).
• Dress warmly and use fleece blankets.
• Preferably change your curtains to thicker and dark colours that retain more heat.
• Make use of a geyser blanket.
• Use appropriately sized pots for each plate when you’re cooking (using a small pot on a large plate will waste electricity).
• Let plenty of warm sunlight in during the day by keeping curtains open wide, but close them as soon as the sun sets to seal in all the warmth.
• Use or change to oil heaters or wall heaters (open spaces are more difficult to heat).
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