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Eskom has added yet another site to its Load Limiting pilot with Lusikisiki being the latest town added to the initiative last week, February 29.
Lusikisiki follows the recent successful activations in Adelaide and Bedford.
Eskom decided to activate load limiting as part of its electricity Demand Side Management (DSM) initiatives being implemented across the country.
The project focuses on selected customers with electricity smart meters.
“Electricity Load Limiting through smart meters is being implemented to better balance the supply and demand of electricity on the grid, during stages one to four of loadshedding, allowing customers to continue to use essential appliances with the capacity of up to 5 Amperes,” said Eskom Cape Coastal Cluster general manager, Mbulelo Yedwa.
Customers in the selected areas with high smart meter penetration will not be loadshed but load-limited up to Stage four.
An hour before the start of loadshedding, the customers in selected pilot areas will be prompted to reduce their consumption from 60 Amperes to 5 Amperes by sending a message to the Customer Interface Unit (CIU) of the smart meter.
Customers will also be notified by text message. If the customer load is still above five amps the smart meter will automatically make two more attempts, 30 seconds apart.
After three failed attempts, the next reset will be in 30 minutes. It is the responsibility of the customer to reduce consumption by switching off non-essential appliances and only keep essential appliances, up to a maximum of five amps, connected for the duration of the load-limiting period.
This initiative aims at reducing the impact of loadshedding on customers.
The benefits of the project include but are not limited to that, and customers will still be able to use essential appliances during load-limiting, such as lights, a television, a cellphone charger, fridge, and security, with no more delayed restoration of supply after loadshedding due to failure of equipment. It avoids theft and vandalism of Eskom infrastructure, and protects equipment fatigue from repetitive switching and reduction in cable faults.
Meanwhile, Eskom in the Eastern Cape said it was considering suspending service in Mqanduli, Qunu and some areas in Elliotdale, following the resumption of electricity infrastructure vandalism in the area.
According to Eskom, these criminal acts leave scores of communities without electricity for days, and this is a safety risk for the public.
Eskom says that live cables pose a threat to the safety and well-being of not only the affected communities, but also its surrounding environment.
“We cannot continue replacing critical material like poles and cables daily, due to criminal activities.
“We are calling upon all stakeholders in the area to work closely with us and the South African Police Services to stop this.
“These criminal acts impact services to various communities and other service delivery sites that include schools, clinics, and waterworks. If these acts continue, we will have no choice but suspend our services in the area.
“Eskom is appealing to the community to report the wrong-doers and look after the Eskom electricity infrastructure in their areas to ensure that community livelihoods are not interrupted by these acts,” said Yedwa.
Members of the public can report incidents by contacting the Eskom Toll-Free Crime Hotline 0800 11 27 22 or the local SAPS. Callers may remain anonymous.
