Experts have suggested that government deploy an independent task team to consider alternative energy-saving methods, such as switching to daylight saving to mitigate the disruption caused by the current load-shedding system implemented by State-owned power utility Eskom.

There was a need for South Africans to think “out of the box” to mitigate the current electricity crisis, North-West University’s (NWU’s) Professor Raymond Parsons told his NWU colleague, Professor Kobus van der Walt, in a video interview earlier this month, during which he emphasised the need for South Africans to adjust their lives to save as much electricity as possible.

The interview stemmed from a seminar on Eskom’s challenges, hosted by the University of Pretoria last month, which Parsons attended.

At the seminar, the need for an energy-controlling system that was more certain and predictable than load-shedding, which tended to inconvenience the run of business on a daily basis, was highlighted.

During the interview, Van der Walt also said that the options being debated were daylight saving, and two time zones in South Africa to share electricity distribution adequately.

He explained that, with regard to daylight saving, the sun rose at about 05:00 during summer, but as South Africans started working only at 08:00 or 09:00, about three hours of sunshine would have been wasted by that time.

“When we start the day at 08:00, working hours normally end at 17:00, causing other activities to spill over into the evening, which means that we move out of phase with the sun and, therefore, need more electricity at night,” Van der Walt added.

He noted that a study showed that about 4% of energy could be saved if South Africans were to start their daily activities earlier in summer to use the time when the sun shines most effectively.

“This has so far worked well for Namibia, which has been using the daylight-saving system for more than 20 years.”

Commenting on the possibility of South Africa using two time zones, Van der Walt indicated during the interview that South Africa could still function in a universal zone, which makes the daylight saving option the most viable option.

“Should daylight saving be implemented, this could help the economy significantly, as sectors such as retail, as well as shopping centres, can benefit from people spending more time shopping while they still have time,” he said.

Moreover, Van der Walt noted that, with South Africa still dealing with the challenge of narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor, a more predictive system would be beneficial for poorer citizens, as their jobs are mostly threatened by the effects of load-shedding.

This is because smaller businesses do not have backup systems, such as generators, when load-shedding takes place, which affects productivity and, subsequently, employment.

Parsons mentioned that, with experts considering and debating viable solutions to alleviate pressure on the electricity system, government needed to deal with two aspects to mitigate the electricity crisis.

“We need government to appoint a task team to further research how this alternative could benefit the country and assist it during the crisis. Secondly, a political stand must then be taken by government to implement the plan,” he concluded.