Review traditional electricity utility model, AMEU told

08 October 2015

 

Delegates at the 25th convention of the Association of Municipal Electricity Utilities of Southern Africa (AMEU) on Wednesday October 7 – the third and final day of the summit – agreed that the traditional electricity utility model currently in use should be reviewed.

 

The convention, held at the Sandton Convention Centre from Monday October 5, was hosted by the City of Johannesburg and its electricity utility, City Power.

The gathering attracted municipalities from all across South Africa, government officials, councillors, electricity supply companies and local and international experts. Delegates were also at one about the need to switch to renewable energy and that it could no longer be business as usual when the country was faced with sharp electricity tariff increases and the inconvenience of load-shedding, among other challenges. The proliferation of independent power producers, cable theft, new legislation and debt collection challenges confronting many municipalities also came under scrutiny.

 

Johannesburg City Manager Trevor Fowler, who was part of a panel discussion, said there were more than 325 000 back yard dwellings in the city and that moves were afoot to formalise them with a view to billing them separately from the main house to ensure optimal revenue collection.

 

Fowler said the challenge was how to ensure equitable distribution. He said communities must also be engaged to discuss the standards that must be adhered to by back yard dwellers. On the greening front, Fowler said the City had rolled out more than 20 000 solar geysers in the past two years and also generated its own electricity from its waste energy plants.

 

What was pleasing for him, he said, was the fact that the City had been able to decrease its load-shedding incidents by 33%.

 

City Power announced at the summit that it would use new innovations when it starts electrifying three of the scores of informal settlements spread across the city. More than R200-million has been budgeted for the electrification of Stjwetla informal settlement, near Alexandra, in Region E, and Thembelihle and Lawley in Region G in the 2015-2016 financial year.

 

Informal settlements account for 13% of power losses in Johannesburg due to illegal connections, according to Xolani Lembede, City Power’s Acting Engineering Director. Lembede said the City’s electricity utility would install independent grids to supply informal settlements separately from formal housing establishments.

 

He said solar power panels would also be installed to minimise pressure on the grid.