Eskom makes urgent appeal

2008-01-21 23:39

Herman Scholtz

Johannesburg - While households consume only a small percentage of the country's electricity, they also contribute to the consumption of electricity that exceeds the supply.

Households will, therefore, have to use 15% less electricity before winter (about 5kW a day) in order to avert a major crisis, Eskom warned on Monday.

According to Mark Wilson, general manager of Ekhurhuleni Electricity, households use an average of 1 000kW hours' electricity a month.

"The problem with household consumption is that it is concentrated in peak times," he said.

Wilson said the industrial sector and businesses used by far the most electricity, but not in the critical times when demand exceeded supply.

"Of course, it is necessary for us all to save electricity, but that is not necessarily going to stop load-shedding," he said.

He said that if demand for electricity remained during morning and evening peak times the problem would not be solved.

"Turning down the temperature on your geyser will save electricity, but if it isn't turned off during peak times, it will not help much to avoid load-shedding," he said.

While it is good to turn off the geyser to reduce electricity demand during peak times, it doesn't save much electricity, as it then requires a lot of electricity to heat the water again, said Wilson.

Solar panels

"It's irrelevant what happened in the past, and complaining won't help. We all have to plan together now for the future."

According to Eskom, 15% of household electricity is used to heat water, using geysers and kettles.

Solar heaters on the roof can mean 40% to 50% savings on your electricity bill in the long run. That means a saving of between 200kW and 250kW.

Solar panels are also environment-friendly and can bring about a saving of up to two tons of carbon dioxide for households.

Other hints to help save electricity are:

air conditioners use an enormous amount of electricity. Rather plant a tree in front of your house to keep it cool or use a fan if it's very hot;

keep curtains drawn during the day to keep the house cool;

take a quick shower instead of bathing;

turn off lights in rooms that are not being used;

use low-energy light bulbs;

use a pressure cooker;

a microwave oven is cheaper to use than a conventional one;

don't fill the kettle to the top if you want to make only one cup of tea; and

make sure your refrigerator door seals properly so that cold air does not escape unnecessarily.

For more information, visit www.eskom.co.za and www.poweralert.co.za.

- Beeld