Dear Hilton Residents and Business Owners,On Monday night last week, several areas experienced an Eskom initiated under frequency trip, due to supply constraint, largely as a result of the reduced supply from the Cahora Bassa Hydroelectric Scheme, which was out due to planned maintenance. We’ve been fortunate for some time now with regards to load shedding, but I’m afraid that it looks like we might be entering another phase of load shedding. Supply is likely to stay under pressure, because of plants needing to go offline for maintenance, so we need to be prepared.
At our last Chamber electricity meeting in July, we agreed that we would run a second trial. The reasons for doing this are as follows:
• Although we met the Eskom requirements for Stage 2 load shedding during the first trial, there were some questions about whether the load given on the day would be sustainable for the full period of load shedding in the future. Some businesses were incredible and gave 100% of their draw for example. The question is, would they be willing to give this capacity every time that load shedding is called for and for the full period of said load shedding without expecting some kind of compensation?
• And, secondly, while the vast majority of businesses contributed towards the trial, some businesses did not change their behaviour at all - and we are hoping that these businesses will contribute at least something in the future.
• Although we met the Eskom requirements for Stage 2 load shedding during the first trial, there were some questions about whether the load given on the day would be sustainable for the full period of load shedding in the future. Some businesses were incredible and gave 100% of their draw for example. The question is, would they be willing to give this capacity every time that load shedding is called for and for the full period of said load shedding without expecting some kind of compensation?
• And, secondly, while the vast majority of businesses contributed towards the trial, some businesses did not change their behaviour at all - and we are hoping that these businesses will contribute at least something in the future.
The objective of this final trial therefore, is to prove that we can voluntarily curtail our draw to meet Eskom’s requirement for Stage 2 shedding, by giving what is reasonable for each business to give for the full period of load shedding – i.e. that the curtailment is sustainable.
The date and time identified for the second trial is tomorrow, 29 September 2015. between 9am and 12pm.
For those 3 hours, all businesses in the city are requested to please switch off non-essential equipment and factories are being asked to ramp down their draw by at least the agreed 15%.
Thanks in anticipation of your support.
Kind regards,
Melanie
Kind regards,
Melanie