Power to the people

POWER

TO THE PEOPLE

The City of Ekurhuleni is hard at work to deliver on its mandate of providing electricity to all its residents and businesses.

The mandate of a municipality is to ensure that all members of the local community have access to at least the minimum level of basic municipal services (Section 73(1)(c) Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000). One of the mandates of the City is to improve the access to electricity by the community of Ekurhuleni in accordance with a licence granted by the National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa).

The City of Ekurhuleni purchases most of its electricity from Eskom and resells to residents and businesses in its area of supply. As is widely known, Eskom has experienced problems with meeting the demand for electricity and introduced load-shedding. Loadshedding is a controlled process that responds to unplanned events in order to protect the electricity power system from a total blackout. Like the rest of South Africa, load-shedding has impacted the economy and the City.

ENERGY PLAN In mitigation, the City has developed its Energy Plan, whose primary objective is to provide a wellconsidered and structured approach to the delivery of energy services in accordance with the service delivery mandate assigned to the City. The Energy Plan documents the intent proactively adopted by the City to be future energy ready. The implementation of the futureready aspirations, objectives and goals is to be performed within the context of the City’s Integrated Development Plan.

In a rapidly changing and dynamic energy sector, careful consideration will be given to ensure that the changing energy demand is met by

INSIGHT FROM THE EXECUTIVE MAYOR

In addressing the electricity supply and distribution within Ekurhuleni, in her 2022 State of the City Address, Executive Mayor Alderman Tania Campbell shared the following:

Boosting supply With this Multi-Party Coalition in charge, the City of Ekurhuleni will, by the end of this political term in 2026, for some time, have experienced a reliable as well as expanded electricity supply. How will we achieve this? First, by investing in the replacement and expansion of backbone infrastructure at a rate of at least 10 km of cables per year, for the next four years. It will start with a 40% increase in capital expenditure allocation in the next financial year, with increases at an average of 12% over the outer years. Circuits and equipment will also be refurbished. The City will be decreasing its dependence on Eskom through the recent appointment of 47 private power producers, which will now be built and sell electricity to the City from 2024 onwards. Under MMC Senzi Sibeko [Energy, Water and Sanitation], the Energy Department is further investigating installing battery energy storage systems in the longer term: it will allow us to mitigate load-shedding on the one hand, but, on the other, also provide the option to store energy when supply is at cheap, low demand and draw on reserves during expensive, peak periods. Still, whether it is in Kempton Park or KwaThema, Duduza or Delville, Brackendowns or Bedfordview, there are plenty of recent experiences with food being spoilt, residents feeling vulnerable, or transactions that could not happen due to unscheduled power outages.

Securing infrastructure Cable theft, theft of other assets and illegal connections cause a significant number of electricity outages. With current security contracts coming to an end in June 2022, it provides an opportunity to introduce incentives for arrests and successful prosecution of culprits, and set standards with respect to patrols and guard placement. We will also make better use of early-warning technology, with installation of alarms and protective structures with smart locking capabilities. We welcome the willingness of the private sector to partner with the City of Ekurhuleni to keep the lights on in the interests of retaining jobs and investment in our city: • despite having been at the receiving end of substandard service delivery and infrastructure degradation for years • despite often having their motivations questioned and offers refused when they propose practical and financial assistance to the City. I’d like to recognise especially Alberton North Business Forum, who installed alarms at three different substations to mitigate asset pilfering, and members of the 44 kVA WhatsApp group in Wadeville, for their offers of assistance to the City. Representatives of both groups were received at the OR Tambo Precinct recently. To these patient investors, the ratepayers, and residents across Ekurhuleni, we ask: keep faith with us, the ship is turning, and in the interim, keep us to account with regards to improved communications on outages and network information.

adequate supply that may be partially procured from sources other than the traditional centralised supply options. Changes in customer behaviour, driven largely by alternative energy options and energy-efficiency initiatives impact on traditional consumption patterns and demand profiles. Combined with the potential impact of future disruptors such as electric vehicles, the impact on the City’s electricity revenue stream must be carefully tracked to ensure proactive responses and positioning to be future energy ready.

SHIFTING PRIORITIES Historically, the City’s primary role was to supply electricity to households and respond to breakdowns as and when they occurred. However, it has now become imperative and necessary to invest astronomical amounts of money in preventative measures to safeguard the City’s infrastructure and equipment from theft and vandalism. The theft and vandalism of the network equipment results in continuous repairs and the replacement of equipment, which places considerable strain on the City’s already limited resources. Large sums of money are spent on overtime.

Ageing infrastructure, security and vehicle fleets have become contenders for the City’s priorities. While the downtime of network availability is within internal standards, the City would like to see the network availability improved. Therefore, a major part of the City’s mission is to encompass the refurbishment/ replacement of ageing infrastructure. The City has nine depots to service the entire network.

DID YOU KNOW?

The City of Ekurhuleni has awarded tenders to 46 Independent Power Producers to provide additional energy for the City. These projects would enable the connection of between 150 MW and 680 MW of renewable power to the grid.

The Covid-19 pandemic has posed a challenge to the City in generating the targeted revenue for the sale of electricity, while also negatively affecting businesses and industry.

ASSISTING THE INDIGENT The City identifies the poor through an indigent register where residents with financial challenges are encouraged to register for assistance. It also complies with the Nersa guidelines on the implementation of an electricity tariff that assists these vulnerable customers to manage the high costs of energy. The inclining block tariff increases in cost in defined steps, with the first 100 units given free of charge (known as free basic electricity). The next 500 units come at a rate where virtually no mark-up is made on the purchase price from the City’s bulk supplier – i.e. a heavily subsidised rate. This benefits customers in this segment, given that basic household appliances, lighting and more can operate within the first 600 units every month. Dwellings in the informal settlements have been fitted with photovoltaic solar panels, which power four globes and a cell phone charger. ELECTRICITY LOSSES The target for ‘percentage total electricity losses’ is set at 22%. As at 21 May 2021, the City achieved a rate of 16.42%. The losses are progressively increasing but below the intended target. A percentage below the target signifies achievement of the target set. The percentage total electricity losses comprises two components, namely technical and non- technical.

Technical loss is calculated as 4.35%. These losses are inherent to the distribution of electricity. A large amount of investment is required with a non-commensurate return on investment. Non-technical losses, on the other hand, comprise illegal connections, tampering, and other forms of theft of electricity. Illegal connections to the network are monitored on an ongoing basis in order to minimise such activity. The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department and the South African Police Services assist with the removal of illegal connections. The City identifies ‘hotspot areas’ from its monthly internal processes together with complaints from the

public. Service providers have been appointed by the City to install earlywarning technology in identified hotspot areas.

LIGHTING UP INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS In 2016, the City commenced with a programme in informal settlements to improve access to lighting while the residents wait for the area to be electrified. In order to improve lighting within the informal settlements, photovoltaic (PV) solar lighting units were installed in some households in these settlements.

The City installed 64 578 PV solar lighting units in about the same number of households during August 2016 to June 2021. These PV solar lighting units could, on a normal day, provide energy to light up four globes and a cell phone charger.

The City installed 10 015 PV solar lighting units in informal settlements in 2020/21 against a target of 10 000 connections cumulatively for the year.

Number of dwellings provided with connections to mains electricity supply by the municipality:

Currently, there are 119 informal settlements with approximately 164 000 informal households within the Ekurhuleni municipal area. These households are currently in the process of being electrified. A process of reblocking is undertaken by the City’s Department of Human Settlements to align the houses, which were erratically built, to enable the installation of electricity services.

The City has electrified 24 814 households in informal settlements. The installation of high mast lights and streetlights is linked to the electrification programme – high mast lights are installed for public lighting, where necessary, as are streetlights. The City installs either high mast lights or streetlights, not both.

The City achieved its target set for the electrification of households both in formal proclaimed areas and also informal settlements during the previous financial year. The City had set a target of 5 000 households to be electrified in 2020/21, and had in fact electrified 5 317 households. Against a target of installing 300 streetlights in the 2020/21 financial year, the City handily exceeded this with the installation of 427 streetlights during this period.

NETWORK DOWNTIME The City of Ekurhuleni’s target for ‘percentage downtime of network availability’ was achieved during the 2020/21 financial year. However, the electricity network is currently under severe pressure due to ageing infrastructure, frequently failing equipment, and vandalism. The worst affected areas are Germiston, Kempton Park and Boksburg. The City is concentrating its efforts to replace ageing and frequently failing equipment (mainly medium-voltage cables and switchgear) in these areas subject to the availability of funds.

This exercise would contribute to stabilising the networks and make available a firm supply of electricity to customers. The City is also following its annual refurbishment plan for the network. The progress with this project was affected by the measures put in place to curb the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

POWER FOR ALL 50 000

34 of Ekurhuleni’s 119 informal settlements have been reblocked and electrified, which has resulted in almost 50 000 people enjoying electricity for the first time

93 000

A total of 93 000 households have been brought on to the electrical grid since the year 2000

MULTISECTORAL ICT EXPERTISE

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As a BBBEE Level 1 company, DNN Solutions is 100% black owned, with 51% ownership by black women.

The various solutions offered by DNN effectively increase the business and organisational value of its clients through the provision of: • ongoing support to ensure the effective management of information resources • a single point of contact for all services • a single point of contact for reporting and service assurance • solutions implemented using project management ideologies.

STRIVING TO BE A MARKET LEADER DNN Technologies aims to be the market leader in providing comprehensive integrated solutions tailored to the needs of specific industries on existing technologies. In order to do this, the company plans to continue growing its business within the SMME, large enterprise and public sector by formulating strategic alliances with technology vendors. The company offers comprehensive solutions within an array of sectors and industries, which include government, mining, healthcare and life science, telecommunications, construction, manufacturing and security.

The company’s list of clients is reflective of its expansive, multisectoral expertise. Some of the projects DNN has been involved in include: • Gauteng Department of Cooperative

Governance and Traditional Affairs:

Data centre implementation • Gauteng Department of Education:

Printing solution • Department of Women: LAN infrastructure support • Phalaborwa Phutha Malatji Hospital: Fire services, access control and PA system • Office of the Valuer-General: LAN infrastructure and server room • Central Johannesburg TVET College:

Supply of laptops and hosted students during implementation • Central Rand Gold Mine: Enterprise infrastructure support • Redpath Mining: Cisco solutions and backup infrastructure. DNN was also recently appointed by the City of Ekurhuleni for three-year projects entailing UTP Cabling, Fortinet & McAfee & Web Development (PHP).

The company very much looks forward to delivering on this project to the satisfaction of the City.

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