Weather rant
Feb 19, 2009 6:09:50 GMT
Post by palesa on Feb 19, 2009 6:09:50 GMT
Well, actually has nothing to do with the weather, but someone was complaining that there were not enough weather threads!
Last year South Africans were asked to please reduce electricity consumption, our electricity service provider (ESKOM) could not keep up with the demand. We endured load shedding, meaning that every day of the week for 2 hours per day for about 2 months, they cut electricity supply.
Now, we have all done what we could, lights off, geyser thermostats down, energy saver light bulbs, cooking on gas instead of electricty. We were told that each household had to reduce consumption by 10%.
Here are extracts from an article in the news this morning:
Cape town - The down-turn in the economy has led to a drop in the amount of electricity sold by producer Eskom, which could lead to tariffs going up, MPs heard on Wednesday.
According to figures tabled at a meeting of Parliament's public enterprises portfolio committee, there has been a 7.44% drop in the amount of electricity sold by Eskom this year (up to February 8) compared to the same period last year.
In terms of the current financial year, electricity sales are down 3.18% compared to the previous year.
"You can expect that by the end of the financial year, the decline in sales from year to year will have been somewhere around two-and-a-half to three percent," public enterprises deputy director-general Chris Forlee told members during a briefing on Eskom.
The drop in electricity sales meant Eskom would under-recover on its costs, he said.
Speaking on the effects the drop in demand would have on Eskom's costs, public enterprises director-general Portia Molefe said if volumes went down, tariffs would go up.
"It is definitely a cause for concern," she said.
Committee chairperson Fatima Chohan noted that government had for months been calling on consumers to save electricity.
"It's a double-edged sword," she said.
Last year South Africans were asked to please reduce electricity consumption, our electricity service provider (ESKOM) could not keep up with the demand. We endured load shedding, meaning that every day of the week for 2 hours per day for about 2 months, they cut electricity supply.
Now, we have all done what we could, lights off, geyser thermostats down, energy saver light bulbs, cooking on gas instead of electricty. We were told that each household had to reduce consumption by 10%.
Here are extracts from an article in the news this morning:
Cape town - The down-turn in the economy has led to a drop in the amount of electricity sold by producer Eskom, which could lead to tariffs going up, MPs heard on Wednesday.
According to figures tabled at a meeting of Parliament's public enterprises portfolio committee, there has been a 7.44% drop in the amount of electricity sold by Eskom this year (up to February 8) compared to the same period last year.
In terms of the current financial year, electricity sales are down 3.18% compared to the previous year.
"You can expect that by the end of the financial year, the decline in sales from year to year will have been somewhere around two-and-a-half to three percent," public enterprises deputy director-general Chris Forlee told members during a briefing on Eskom.
The drop in electricity sales meant Eskom would under-recover on its costs, he said.
Speaking on the effects the drop in demand would have on Eskom's costs, public enterprises director-general Portia Molefe said if volumes went down, tariffs would go up.
"It is definitely a cause for concern," she said.
Committee chairperson Fatima Chohan noted that government had for months been calling on consumers to save electricity.
"It's a double-edged sword," she said.
