Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis launched the City’s new Power Heroes programme during a City Council meeting on January 30. Cape Town is South Africa’s first metro to implement an electricity demand reduction programme.
Also read: Dark start to 2024: Eskom announces return of loadshedding
Power Heroes is part of the metro’s larger strategy to eventually eliminate loadshedding through a combination of demand reduction and open market purchasing power.
‘Overall, the Power Heroes programme will target 60MW in demand reduction, enough to protect against a full stage of load-shedding,’ said Hill-Lewis.
‘Customers who choose to participate can opt to have a smart device installed in their home or business free of charge by the City’s appointed service provider. This will enable the remote switching of non-essential loads like geysers, pool pumps, or non-essential appliances in residential and commercial buildings.’
Cape {town} Etc discount: Looking for things to do in the city, at half the price? Get exclusive offers here.
‘To reach the 60MW target, we need to sign up tens of thousands of commercial and residential customers.’
‘The cumulative effect of thousands of installed devices will mean that, when Eskom requires load reduction, Power Heroes will be called on to support the effort and have their non-essential appliances remotely turned off as agreed.’
‘This entire voluntary programme will be rolled out in phases, and is one of the most cost-effective ways to mitigate load-shedding.’
‘With Team Cape Town at the helm, I am absolutely confident that we will achieve the target of a full stage of load-shedding protection.’
‘I call on Capetonians to support this initiative, to sign up and ‘Be a Hero’. Let’s show South Africa and the world, once again, that there is great power in teamwork, and that Team Cape Town can rise to the challenge, just as we did during the drought crisis.’
‘Overall, our short-term load-shedding mitigation plans up to 2026 aiming to protect customers by up to four stages of Eskom’s load-shedding. This will be achieved largely through a mix of the use of the Steenbras Hydro Plant (1 – 2 stages); 500MW of dispatchable energy (up to four stages from 06:00 – 22:00 daily where possible); and demand management programmes, such as Power Heroes and load curtailment,’ said Mayor Hill-Lewis.
How it works
The programme is implemented and managed by a third-party aggregator/service provider who is responsible for recruiting customers, installing devices and enabling load reduction when required by the City.
- The City has awarded the tender to Ontec Karebo JV as the third-party aggregator who will implement the programme.
- Participation is voluntary and subject to prequalification criteria. As there are a limited number of smart meter devices, we need to ensure that we get an optimal load that can be reduced for customers that participate.
- All City-supplied customers (not Eskom-customers) are invited to participate in the programme. If a customer wishes to participate in the programme and they meet the prequalification criteria, they will sign a contractual agreement with the Ontec Karebo JV outlining the participation arrangements. The City will not be involved in this agreement.
- The Ontec Karebo JV will install smart devices on non-essential appliances, as agreed to by the customer. These are typically electricity-intensive items, such as geysers and pool pumps.
- When the City is required by Eskom to move to a higher stage of loadshedding, the required load reduction will be implemented from the City’s Network Control Centre.
- The biggest incentive for customers to participate in the Power Heroes initiative is the ability of the City to eventually protect residents from the effects of one stage of loadshedding, once enough customers have signed up. Furthermore, customers will have better transparency in their energy use to enable energy savings.
Explore Cape Town and its surroundings with these incredible deals on cars for under R100 000. Find car listings here.
Who and which areas
The Power Heroes programme will be focused on residential and small commercial customers within the City of Cape Town’s electricity supply area, not Eskom customers. All low-voltage (LV) customers with a maximum demand of less than 1MVA will be encouraged to participate in this important programme. The aggregator needs to reach around 25 000 – 50 000 customers in order for us to meet our target of 60MW in demand reduction.
For the installation of smart meter devices, customers will be selected based on their ability to contribute non-essential loads to our Power Heroes Initiative. This will be rolled out to all qualifying customers that are currently supplied by the City of Cape Town. The sequence of the rollout areas will be communicated once finalised.
When can we be Power Heroes
The City is in the process of concluding the contract with the service provider, as all City approvals have been obtained to conclude this contract. The programme will be rolled out in phases to give Ontec Karebo JV time to sign up customers who volunteer to participate in the programme and for the JV to procure the smart devices.
Also read:
Analysts slam SA’s draft energy plan, predict 7 years of loadshedding
Picture: Murray Swart