Companies would need to grow without using more power, and organisations that did not take the energy situation seriously, would not survive, said South African Association of Energy Efficiency (SAAEE) president LJ Grobler on Thursday.

Energy Minister Dipuo Peters added that electricity consumer had “been lulled into a sense of comfort by the economic downturn”, and seemed to forget that the reserve margin was still very low.

Indeed, Eskom spokesperson Andrew Etzinger said that “at the moment, the [Eskom] system is under great pressure. We are unable to do scheduled maintenance because the demand has increased. We are under stress, and we need demand side management (DSM) now more than ever.”

He further explained that DSM consisted of overall management and energy efficiency, as well as growth management, and what was called the ‘virtual power station’. Which means that the system operator has the ability to control the load. The power conservation programme also fell under DSM, as did initiatives such as the roll-out of one-million solar water heaters, which would displace a large portion of demand from the grid.

Peters reminded delegates gathered at the SAAEE convention in Johannesburg, the department has outlined a 12% overall target for energy efficiency in South Africa, and to ensure practical application of the target, sectoral targets had been set.

Peters reiterated that the government felt that these energy efficiency targets should be made mandatory, as there was a lot of progress on energy efficiency that could be made through no-cost or low cost interventions.

She added that the Department of Public Works would also soon release regulations for energy efficiency in the building and construction industry, which would assist in changing bylaws to accommodate energy efficiency.

Minister Peters stated that energy efficiency should also be implemented in the power sector itself, as a recent audit into power utility Eskom’s operations showed that savings of some 1,8GWh a year could be achieved at each power station site, largely through improved heating ventilation and cooling.

Grobler explained that South Africa used four times as much energy, for the same economic output as Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, and with energy constraints and price increases, companies and consumers could not continue in the same way that they have in the past.

Grobler added that performance visualisation, which would make energy usage more accessible and understandable, would assist in allowing people to monitor the overall efficiency of a system, and ensure it was operating as intended.

National Energy Efficiency Agency acting operation manager Barry Bredenkamp called for more action in the energy efficiency environment, and said that the industry needed: proper training and capacity building; co-ordinated activities; informative advocacy activities; standards and minimum energy performance solutions, as well as research based innovative solutions; regulations; and international best practice applications.