While it is logical for government and power utility Eskom to focus its initial power-savings campaign on energy-intensive companies, National Business Initiative CEO André Fourie has again called for a customised approach that is sector specific and takes account of energy-efficiency gains already made by certain companies and sectors.

He says a “one-size-fits-all” model that seeks to enforce a 10% cut across the board would penalise those that have made genuine strides in reducing their consumption.

It could damage the credibility of the campaign, as well as further undermine economic growth at a time when South Africa can least afford to do so. South Africa’s economic growth slowed to a decade low of 0,2% quarter- on-quarter in the third quarter of 2008, raising the spectre of recession.

“We have had a number of companies over the last decade, and particularly over the last three years, that have worked very hard at becoming more efficient,” he asserts, adding that it “doesn’t make sense” to demand a 10% cut of these companies.

“Some of our smelters are the most efficient in the world. So, if you cut 10% out of their electricity supply, they are going to have to cut 10% out of their businesses,” Fourie warns.

He also calls for benchmarking within industrial sectors so as to create the framework for realistic energy-efficiency targets within those industries.

“Gold-mining is very different from a retail environment and we think it would be better to develop benchmarks and targets within industries and measure companies according to that rather than having a one-size-fits-all that could actually be damaging to the environment and to people’s jobs.”

For its part, Eskom has given assurances that the proposed power conservation programme (PCP) – which will initially target mandatory savings from South Africa’s top 300 or so energy-intensive businesses – will be applied in consultation.

But acting system operations and planning division MD Kannan Lakmeeharan has defended the move to a mandatory regime, saying that the current voluntary programme is failing to deliver the 10% reduction needed to stabilise the supply system and create space for new connections.

The power-stressed utility and government will seek to institute a mandatory scheme, target- ing an overall reduction of 10%, or 26 terawatt hours (tWh), over the next four to five years.

Initially, the utility’s top 250 customers, which together consume 80 tWh yearly, compared with the City of Cape Town, which consumes 10 tWh/y, as well as the leading five to ten customers in the 12 largest municipal areas, will be targeted.

Lakmeeharan also strongly dismisses ongoing suggestions that the PCP will be pursued on a one-size-fits-all basis, and will fail to take into account savings already achieved by a number of large users.

He says that processes will be put in place to ensure that baselines and allocations are fair for each sector, are phased in appropriately and can be reviewed.

In addition, a trading regime could be insti- tuted that will allow those unable to meet their allocation to buy credits from those that have.

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