Smart meter plan to halt blackouts

Durban - Eskom would spend between R2 billion and R6 billion rolling out a technology to reduce the number of times it cut power to households, Andrew Etzinger, the general manager of resources and investment strategies, said yesterday. Eskom hoped to start the process before the end of the year.

Etzinger said the smart meter technology would be installed in at least 3 million houses in predominantly upmarket areas.

He said the Eskom Investments Committee had given the concept the go-ahead but it was still awaiting final approval from the board of directors.

The technology will replace the present electricity board. It will allow both the consumer and Eskom to remotely control the switches.

The customer will also be able to classify appliances as either primary or secondary and, when the power has to be cut, only the secondary appliances will then be switched off.

The new technology will also enable consumers to control the switches via the internet and cellphones. It also allows for two-way communication between the consumer and the power utility.

Etzinger said the concept, which could also detect faults and electricity theft, had been successful in other countries.

"We cannot guarantee that there will not be load shedding anymore, but this will greatly reduce the number of times that we have to shed load," he said. "This will not be economically viable for houses that do not have a geyser, because their consumption of electricity is too low."

There are 8 million households in the country that have electricity. Two million to 3 million of those houses consume 20 percent of the country's power during peak times.

Etzinger said this technology could help these households drop that to 10 percent. "And that could prevent load shedding."

Once the board of directors' approval has been obtained, Eskom will go to the market to source service providers through a tender process.

The cost will be finalised once the negotiations with the supplier have been completed.

Indicatively, Eskom would pay between R1 000 and R2 000 each for up to 3 million houses, Etzinger said.

Safesky Africa Technology, owned by former Bafana Bafana coach Jomo Sono, is working on plans to become one of the suppliers, together with an Israel-based company called Computerised Electricity Systems, whose general manager, Lupu Wittner, demonstrated the system yesterday.

But Etzinger would only say about possible suppliers: "Several service providers have approached us with the technology; they (Safesky) could very well be one of those."

Ayal Rossenberg, the chief technical officer at Safesky Africa Technology, said that with just 500 000 households fitted in Gauteng, the province would be spared the power cuts. For the whole country, it would take 2 million houses.

Rossenberg said the system had been implemented in countries such as the US and Spain.

"What this system does is enable Eskom or the municipality to reduce the amount of power you are using in your house, instead of cutting it off completely. With the current system, if Eskom has to shed load, it is either 100 percent or nothing," said Rossenberg.

Eskom and the municipalities would also be able to send an e-mail to customers, telling them if they were using too much electricity, and suggesting what they should switch off to cut the usage by a certain percentage, said Rossenberg.

Another message would drop into the customer's inbox once the acceptable level had been reached.

Mike Sutcliffe, the eThekwini city manager, said it also had plans to introduce the technology and it had been in discussions with Eskom, but no details had been finalised.

Louis Pieterse, the general manager for supply availability at City Power, confirmed that it would also be taking the smart meter route in Johannesburg's suburbs.