Nelson Mandela Bay has become the first municipality to let its residents keep the lights on during load shedding, leaving behind big metros such as Johannesburg and Cape Town.
The Load Curtailment Project launched on Monday is a game-changer for the city, making it the first metro in the country to roll out the project.
Eskom, meanwhile, is testing the load-limiting system in Gauteng.
Electricity and Energy MCM Zanele Sikawuti said a total of 115 households in South End would receive new smart electricity meters at no cost to them.
These households will be able to reduce their electricity usage during load-shedding while leaving their lights and other low electricity-consuming appliances on.
NMBM Electricity and Energy executive director, Luvuyo Magalela, said the new smart meter boxes will be able to detect when a household is using way more than the permitted 4,600 Watts during load shedding.
“The message is very clear: you reduce your load to stay on. Notification will alert customers to switch off major appliances at the distribution board. Should you not comply, the meter will trip for up to five times; if you fail to reduce again, the meter will switch you off for the duration of the load-shedding period.” he explained.
The metro is saddled with high volumes of crime and infrastructure vandalism, which the city says happens during load shedding periods where vandals even cut down poles to steal the cables inside them.
“This is the second pioneer project for the city following the installation of high mast solar street lights, which were introduced in a bid to fight infrastructure vandalism and theft,” said Magalela.
There’s an extra advantage for the metro: “During load shedding the municipality is not able to collect revenue, so the launch of this project will ensure that we can collect revenue during load shedding stages,” he said.
The pilot project will run for three months benefiting Gqeberha’s South End suburb, and should it be successful it will be rolled out all over the city.
The pilot area will be monitored by a bulk meter in each substation. Data concentrators will be installed in the substations to monitor all the smart meters.
Pictured above: NMBM Electricity and Engineering MMC Zanele Sikawuti, Executive Director Luvuyo Magalela along with lead engineer Humphrey Mthimkhulu and Ward 2 councillor Gouws.
Image source: Anita Dangazele