Stumbling in the dark
It has not taken long for South African consumers to appreciate how serious the country’s power problems are. There is nothing like a series of two to three hour power outages to remind us how reliant we are on electricity to function in the 21st century.
But there are other problems which make the call to halt further industrial development a moot point. It appears Eskom may struggle to raise the finance required for its ambitious power projects in which case the South African economy is in huge trouble.
Playing blame games won’t solve the crisis
So who is to blame for the country’s power woes? We are all so busy throwing stones at Eskom that we’ve forgotten how government repeatedly sent the National Energy Regulator packing when the body first appraised it of the country’s looming energy crisis as far back as 2003. Late last year President Thabo Mbeki took the unprecedented step of apologising to the nation for its power problems. On 11 December 2007 Mbeki referred to government’s response to Eskom’s request for funding: “We said not now, later. We were wrong. Eskom was right.”
But government’s acknowledgement does not absolve Eskom and its top management of wrongdoing. These energy professionals are responsible for keeping the country’s wheels turning. Government’s first refusal should have had them camping outside the Union Buildings until their point was understood. And if government still refused to assist in funding the necessary infrastructure upgrades the public utility company should have issued debt on the capital markets, collaborated with the private sector or upped its fees to generate funds for expansion.
At the very least, Eskom has had three or four years to think of alternative methods of saving and utilising energy. But it has done virtually nothing in that time to prepare its customers on how to deal with the problem.
Still no concrete answers
And Eskom scores very few points for managing its ‘load shedding’ activities either. It would be so much easier to deal with the problem if the public had accurate information as to when power would be unavailable in a particular area. Even a consistent approach to the shedding would help. My suburb does not appear on Eskom’s list of areas that will receive power cuts. Yet the power has been down in my area on each of the last five days. The duration of these outages was between two and three hours – with the starting time varying from 09:15am on Monday to 05:40am on Friday. And that makes it impossible to plan.
Although Eskom has yet to provide us with a concise summary of the problem and a detailed plan for resolving it, events of the last week confirm the extent of the crisis facing our economy. This has prompted the Public Protector to seek answers on our behalf. His open letter to the power company includes please for Eskom to come clean on the extent of the problem and provide a detailed ‘rescue’ plan.
In the interim we have two alternatives in dealing with the issue. We can wait for Eskom to raise the capital to start their massive infrastructure upgrade (and hopefully see the first rewards toward the middle of 2009) or we can start looking for solutions that will allow us to manage the problem to the best of our abilities.
Government incentive for solar power
Those of us who can afford it are buying generators and wiring the power essentials to run on petrol or diesel. There is, however, a strong case for some kind of government incentive for homeowners who modify their houses to run on solar power. The simplest solution would be an incentive for the installation of solar water heaters. This has the potential to save thousands of kilowatt hours if properly implemented. Solar solutions could also reduce traffic congestion if used at the busier intersections to keep robots going during outages.
If supply cannot be addressed the only alternative is to manage the problem aggressively. Eskom will have to provide an accurate schedule (times and durations) for power outages to allow the private sector to implement work programmes around these outages. Manufacturing concerns may have to consider changing their shift patterns to operate in times when electricity is available. And as a last resort we could possibly implement different starting times for commercial concerns in different areas – something once proposed to help with traffic congestion.
Until the supply problem is resolved (and it will not happen soon) we will have to become used to frequent power disruptions. Eskom has warned that their ‘load shedding’ activities will haunt us for the next five to seven years.
Editor’s thoughts:
The Eskom debacle is not the only example of management incompetence in South Africa. Almost 14 years after the country’s first democratic election the levels of service and planning at a range of public (government) institutions remain deplorable. Home affairs offices, municipalities and vehicle test centres are all examples of the ‘couldn’t care less’ attitude we face on a daily basis. What can we do to address the poor work ethic that is destroying our public service? Add your comment at the end of this article, or send it to [email protected]
