Johannesburg’s City Power has announced that it will begin offering a ‘load limiting’ solution in the coming weeks that will empower its 65 000 smart-meter customers to partially avoid rotational load-shedding by voluntarily reducing consumption during times of system constraint.

The solution, which was officially launched by executive mayor Parks Tau on Tuesday amid ongoing load-shedding by Eskom, has been successfully piloted at the Aspen Hills Nature Estate, in the southern part of the city, for the past two months.

Tau says that preparations are now being made to extend the load-limiting option to other smart-meter-equipped households from the beginning of May.

City Power will offer residents a 30-minute advanced warning, using the smart-meter interface and text messages, of either an Eskom or a city requirement for reduced consumption.

Residents will be encouraged to switch off energy-intensive appliances such as geysers, stoves and fuel pumps, while sustaining essential lighting and security systems.

Should in-house consumption fall below the load-limit threshold, the electricity supply will remain connected. Should the load remain above the threshold, the smart meter will disconnect the main electricity supply.

City Power believes that at the current penetration smart meters could yield savings of 153 MW, but that the figure will increase as the installed base rises. By October, the utility aims to have increased the installed base to 150 000 households, with the full R1.2-billion roll-out targeting 330 000 households.

City Power MD Sicelo Xulu says the utility is exploring how technology can be used to enhance security of supply and that besides load limiting, it is also investing in ripple-control systems and solar-water geysers.

He adds than an extensive educational drive will be undertaken ahead of the full implementation of the load-limiting solution.