While large industry has met its 10% power-reduction commitments, the rest of South Africa is lagging behind, saving less than 5% on its electricity consumption.
The continued strain on the national grid has meant that there remains the threat of load-shedding for South Africans.
”We have not seen the savings we’d have liked … We are just asking everyone to come to the party,” says Eskom’s Andrew Etzinger.
In a bid to get consumers to save energy Eskom is in the process of rolling out a widespread campaign to get customers to switch to energy efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs or CFLs. It is being instituted in areas of high constraint including the Free State, Western and Northern Cape, Limpopo, central Gauteng and the North West.
Similar programmes have been run in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal in the past. More than 12 million lamps have been distributed over three years. It is hoped that a greater number of CFLs in homes and businesses will result in a targeted saving of 750MW by 2010.
Etzinger’s comments come in the wake of concern that Eskom would be halting electricity supply to all new large construction projects or projects that would use more electricity than an average residential home.
Beeld newspaper reported last week that all new construction projects where electricity provision needed to be obtained from Eskom, would be delayed for up to six months. Eskom however, denied that it will be stopping new developments, but the company will take ”between four to six months” to process any new applications.
”All those developments that have already applied and have quotations will be honoured,” said the power utility. These include large construction projects such as the Gautrain and 2010 World Cup projects.
