Articles in your February edition of Energize provide eye-opening insights into inefficiency, red tape and fresh perspectives on the substantial financial losses stemming from unproductive bureaucracy and legal fees.
Thinking back to when Cape Town faced its severe water crisis, one takeaway was that township residents set low water use benchmarks compared to their suburban counterparts. Another crucial lesson was the destructive impact of electricity supply interruptions on those already receiving limited free allocations.
After two years of downsizing to a small cottage in Fish Hoek, we’ve encountered another reality – how retirement village management funds its operations by supplying prepaid electricity to a captive market. Comparing our electricity costs with friends and relatives in suburban areas, we found that, while suburbia pays around R2,00 per kWh, we are charged roughly R3,00 per kWh.
It seems that the additional R1,00 per kWh goes towards covering management overheads. In response, last year, residents almost unanimously supported a 300 kW peak-capacity solar photovoltaic installation funded equally by trustees and residents. The system, commissioned in February, is expected to reduce our reliance on grid power. However, a critical question remains: Will our prepaid electricity prices be adjusted over the seven-year repayment period of our interest-free loan? Our upcoming AGM will be the first opportunity to debate the extent to which we should continue subsidising management costs, from administration to coffee and biscuits, for the remainder of our time in this so-called “Ultimate Departure Lounge”.
Watch this space.
Alan S Mitchell
Eskom’s former “Corporate Doomsayer” on large generator-grid connections
PS: It seems that R50 of free electricity per month would barely dent the municipal or Eskom balance sheets compared to the staggering waste on red tape and legal fees. My self-employed son recently asked: “Why doesn’t Cape Town (or Eskom) simply write off past losses and introduce a capped free allocation of X kWh per month across all energy dispensers in the metro? As long as usage stays below the cap, electricity could be a “free-for-all” system.” Why not indeed? Isn’t that what democracy is supposed to be about?
