City sets call to action to ensure secure energy supply to Cape Town

The current electricity load-shedding experiences have shaken confidence in many sectors of our population and economy. Seemingly out of the blue, the same scenarios of 2008 are back and residents and businesses are finding themselves in difficulty.

As such, the City of Cape Town, which is the fastest growing metro in the country, today held an emergency meeting with Eskom to discuss the reasons behind the load shedding, specifically given the assurances of Eskom over the last few years that the electricity supplies were being secured. 

We sought reasons why, despite the enormous effort that this City and its residents have put into energy conservation - having firmly reduced its electricity consumption, despite significant increase in the City's population - the City still has to endure load shedding.

In the short-term, the City, with Eskom, is also exploring more suitable load-shedding schedules that will have a lower overall impact on our residents and our economy. We have also shared with Eskom our dissatisfaction over the poor notification periods that the City receives and the poor communication that Eskom has with the public when load shedding changes are made.

Looking at the medium to longer term, it is clear that the model of electricity supply of the past 100 years is no longer sustainable.

Eskom does not have the means or ability to provide adequate electricity to power our economy into the future. A national grid powered by large power stations cannot be our sole source of energy, or even of electricity. 

The crony capitalist bent of the national government is accelerating the collapse of this outdated model. Disruptive new technologies are providing new opportunities for alternative energy supply models and we must prepare for a new future scenario for energy supply.

The City of Cape Town is thus pursuing a model of energy supply which seeks to diversify the City's energy sources away from Eskom as the sole provider.

It is clear that the proximate reasons for the current supply crisis are due to the underlying reasons of lack of investment and maintenance by Eskom over many years. We have sympathy with the operational staff of Eskom who are trying to achieve the best outcomes in the current circumstances and will work together with them to assist to avoid a national blackout occurring.

Today we discussed with the regional Eskom leadership the implementation of load shedding and agreed:

• that improved notification is required from Eskom to the City
• that improved communication with the public is essential
• that a review of the load shedding schedules is necessary, as well as better alignment of the Eskom and City schedules
• that the regional leadership of Eskom will convey to their national counterparts our dissatisfaction with how load shedding is shared across the country, especially given the already reduced electricity demand from Cape Town despite our growth in population
• that the nature of the City's economy, as a primarily services-orientated and tourist economy, entering its peak season, needs to be taken into account in load shedding
• that Eskom needs to accelerate the conversion of the Ankerlig Power station to a closed-cycle system and conversion to a gas supply so as to provide an anchor for a gas supply into the Western Cape.

We simply cannot rely on Eskom as the source of our energy supply. We must take back our power and take charge of the energy regime in Cape Town.

The lack of national leadership on this disaster, which is set to continue in the years to come and which indicates that we are a country in crisis, simply cannot be tolerated, nor afforded.

As a City, we must continue to drive the transformation of our energy regime. Energy efficiency, especially the initiatives which shift electricity demand in peak times, is the quickest, cheapest and most beneficial way to address our power crisis over the short- to medium term. It reduces demand, saves costs, creates jobs and helps local business.

The City has been driving a successful High Pressure Solar Water Heater Programme in an attempt to reduce electricity demand in the peak times. For those with electric geysers (the largest consumer of residential electricity), switching to a solar water heater is the best way to reduce consumption and cost immediately.

But we have also been actively promoting energy savings across the spectrum of users - everyone can save energy and costs - not only the more affluent residents.

The City will also be stepping up our efforts to diversify our energy mix.

Together with the Western Cape Government, we are already driving efforts to bring natural gas supply into the Western Cape. We reiterate our previously stated interest in entering into a power purchase agreement with a private company that will construct a gas-fired power station within the city to provide Cape Town with a power supply which is not dependent on Eskom's monopoly and which will provide an anchor for the investment required to bring a gas supply into our City.

This would directly support the growth of larger-scale renewable energy resources in Cape Town and the Western Cape.

We need to fundamentally change our view of how we use electricity and where it comes from. The City has been doing a lot of work in this regard and, with the support of our residents and other partners, we are ready to lead Cape Town into a new energy era.

Advice:

Residents can contact the City's call centre on 0860 103 089 for more information about load shedding, or visit here for an area map and the time schedules for the different stages of load shedding.

Eskom advises that all appliances are switched off before load shedding to avoid possible damage caused by power surges.

More information about the City's successful residential energy savings programme can be found by visiting here).

Statement issued by Alderman Ian Neilson, Executive Deputy Mayor, City of Cape Town, December 12 2014

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