Johannesburg’s City Power has implemented load reduction in parts of the city, which could severely impact local businesses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
City Power has introduced load reduction in areas with high usage levels that threaten to overload the system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although this will primarily impact residencies, these outages could also significantly disrupt local businesses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Dr Andrew Dickson, Engineering Executive at CBI-electric: low voltage, production stops when the power goes off, reducing output and hurting profitability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHowever, for a number of companies operating in Johannesburg\u2019s industrial sector, the switch-off of machinery could render them unable to operate for extended periods as it can take equipment anywhere from a few hours to more than 24 hours to return to operation,” said Dickson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWith outages now occurring\u00a0multiple times a day\u00a0in parts of Johannesburg, this will bring business to a standstill and could even force several companies to close.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMoreover, this could have significant knock-on effects, especially as\u00a0the city\u2019s businesses enable it to contribute around 14.9%\u00a0to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and\u00a040%\u00a0to the Gauteng province while also employing approximately\u00a02.13 million people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His solution <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If companies and residences voluntarily reduce their electricity consumption, he said that it may be possible to alleviate strain on the grid, thereby minimising disruptions and allowing businesses to operate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, businesses and households must introduce plans to curb their electricity usage for this to work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe first step should be\u00a0measuring how much power is being consumed as well as when, where and why. This information can then be used to build a plan that takes energy demand patterns into account.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “For example, this could help companies change when they use the most power by restructuring their operations, determining which processes should happen when in order to minimise peaks and dips in daily power usage and adjusting how shift structures work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUsing timers or load controllers to schedule when loads turn on or off could also help to reduce electricity consumption.” This could prevent systems like air conditioners and hydro boils from running unnecessarily after business hours or limit how long household geysers are on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Load controllers, combined with room occupancy sensors, can switch off electrical equipment in unoccupied offices or meeting rooms so that power is consumed when necessary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAdditional electricity saving measures could include installing natural lighting options like light pipes instead of electric lighting and putting in draught doors to reduce heating and cooling costs.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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