Eskom’s appeal to business for a radical shift in working hours as a way of reducing electricity consumption in the evenings will do little good because it addresses the wrong problem‚ says the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“The evening period of peak demand – from 5pm to 9pm – is caused by domestic consumers who switch on their electric stoves and electric heaters during this time. It has very little to do with business‚” said Michael Bagraim‚ President of the Chamber.
Bagraim was reacting to a call made by Eskom CEO Brian Dames on Monday that the electricity grid was coming under severe strain as maintenance could not be put off any longer.
Bagraim said the most effective way to reduce the demand for electrity for cooking and heating would be for domestic consumers to convert to gas. “What we need is a major programme with incentives and subsidies to persuade people to use gas for cooking and heating‚” Bagraim said.
Peter Haylett‚ chairman of the Chamber’s Industrial Focus Portfolio Committee‚ said that Eskom had brought the evening peak hour problem on itself because the whole design of the National grid was based on large coal and nuclear power stations which were at their most efficient when they ran for 24 hours a day.
“This makes it difficult to adjust the output to match the demand. There should be more pump storage in the grid and there should be gas power stations which are very much more flexible as they could be used only during the time when there is high demand‚” he said.
Gas power stations would also create a market for gas and that would mean that it would be viable to import natural gas which could then be used by industry and domestic consumers to ease the burden on the national grid.
“The idea of asking industry to cut back on its use of electrity at certain times so that more power is available for domestic consumers is wrong. It is industry and commerce that should be the priority customers because they grow the economy and create the jobs.”
He said that while some “load shifting” and an adjustment in working hours would be helpful this was not the core of the problem.
“Commerce and industry are steady users of power and do not create the peak demand periods. Asking business to make sacrifices to help consumers who had other options such as gas and solar water heating is not a good idea‚ Haylett said. - I-Net Bridge