City Power says it will shield Johannesburg residents from one stage of load-shedding every time Eskom requires it to shed customers from the grid, now that it has signed a new power purchase agreement with the privately owned Kelvin power station.
For every 1,000MW, or one stage of load-shedding done by Eskom, City Power is required to drop 100MW of capacity from the grid. The new power purchase agreement, signed last week, will provide Joburg with an additional 100MW, taking the supply from Kelvin to 180MW.
“With this new deal we will be able to avoid one stage of load-shedding and continue to provide electricity when Eskom requires us to drop people from the grid,” said City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena.
The City of Cape Town shields residents from one stage of load-shedding by using its pumped storage operation at the Steenbras Dam to bridge the gap when Eskom asks it to drop load. This means when the rest of SA has stage 1 load-shedding, Cape Town has none, and when the rest of the country is on stage 2, Cape Town is on stage 1.
DA mayoral candidate Geordin Hill-Lewis is campaigning on a ticket to end load-shedding by contracting directly with independent power producers.
At the signing ceremony on Friday, Gauteng premier David Makhura said the arrangement would increase Joburg’s electricity supply by 12%.
Erratic supply
Executive mayor Mpho Moerane said the agreement includes revised terms and conditions that also allow for the greater operating risk of Kelvin to be transferred to the operator of the power plant, as they are better placed to manage variable input costs. “The agreement we signed today answers the questions that have been in the minds of many since we started speaking about plans to take over the supply of electricity by Eskom in Johannesburg communities,” Moerane said.
Soweto, in particular, is plagued by an erratic electricity supply due to frequent breakdowns and fires at substations caused by overloading. It can take Eskom months to replace burnt-out infrastructure, resulting in electricity being the key issue of the election.
Moerane announced at his induction a few weeks ago that City Power was in negotiations with Eskom to take over electricity infrastructure. However, Eskom will require at least R4bn for the distribution infrastructure and will need the city to stump up for R7.5bn in unpaid consumer bills. Areas with a high proportion of non-payers also have systemic cut-offs by Eskom dubbed “load reduction”.
The ANC has been criticised, not least by Eskom, for implying in the heat of an election campaign that the takeover would be instant, relieving Sowetans of their electricity problems. Eskom has pointed out that negotiations have hardly begun and there are many obstacles to navigate. Apart from the R11.5bn it would need to complete the transfer, residents of the city will also have to be consulted on the change during the licensing process.
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