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Ward 117 Newsletter Cllr Tim Truluck / ttruluck@gmail.com / 083-619-2419 / Twitter: @jozi117
Ward 117 covers the following suburbs: Craigtowne, etc). |
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Correction to Earlier Email
The new loadshedding block for 8B is 2A and not 1A.
Planned Water Outage on Thurs 23 July fm 7am-2pm
Joburg Water will be working on the pipes in the areas fed by the Killarney reservoir. I would expect there will still be water in the system for a while after they turn off the supply. The higher lying suburbs will lose their water first and the lower lying ones will have water the longest. Remember that they also can’t turn on the valve after they have finished and, hey presto, you have water. It takes about 2-4 hours to fill the pipes again. And that there may well be problems with pressure and pipe bursts. Log all outages and bursts on customerservice@jwater.co.za Rosebank Saxonwold Parkwood Parktown North (I expect the section along Jan Smuts down to around 2nd Ave will be affected). Dunkeld Melrose and Ext Birdhaven Killarney Riviera Houghton Loadshedding Changes
Here are the changes in Loadshedding Blocks for the suburbs in our ward:
Load Limitation Starts In Joburg
For those of us with smart meters (see the list of back issues in the right hand column for more on smart meters), we entered a new unannounced world of LOAD LIMITATION.
Today, suddenly, our lights went out for 30 seconds a few times, and then POW – no more power. What happened was that City Power were warning you to cut your electricity usage. So you needed to turn off your heating, oven, pool pump – anything to reduce your power consumption.
If your power does go off, you may need to rest the smart meter by pressing and holding down the Scroll/Reset button near the bottom of the Itron meter. You can also try turning off your mains switch – this will reset the meter as well.
The reason they are doing this is to try and cushion us from loadshedding. If 90 000 households can save 50% of power, then we won’t have to be completely cut off when Eskom requires City Power to reduce electricity useage.
The only problem, is the complete lack of any kind of warning, advice, notice. City Power is dreadful at communicating with its customers and this is another example.
Load Limiting to Kick Off in Joburg By Anna Cox, www.iol.co.za Joburg residents who are using “too much” electricity will now have their power disconnected remotely by City Power.Load limiting, as the new system is called, kicks in for the first time this week. It affects about 92 000 households who have smart meters. Residents will experience repetitive disconnections for 30 seconds over five minutes until they have reduced their consumption to the required levels. If they fail to do so, they will be disconnected remotely via smart meters. “So if your electricity is disconnecting for 30 seconds, don’t panic, simply comply by immediately switching off heavy electricity-consumption appliances. “When every household reduces consumption to required levels during periods of constrained supply, it will spare the affected areas from load shedding as pressure on the grid will be lessened when the entire neighbourhood collectively reduces consumption during peak hours to the required threshold,” said City Power managing director Sicelo Xulu. By the end of next week, City Power plans to have uploaded an additional 30 000 smart meters with load-limiting capabilities. “We are using the power of technology to avert the implementation of the early stages of load shedding,” he said. City Power successfully piloted the system in Aspen Hills, south of Joburg. The smart meters curtail usage for an average household from 42 amps to 21 amps. This will allow affected households to still run light, power-consuming appliances such as lights, TVs and alarm systems, but energy-intensive appliances such as geysers, stoves and pool pumps cannot be operated. If they are left on, power to the entire household will be remotely switched off until the energy supply has normalised. Xulu said load limiting would slash average household consumption by half, thus reducing pressure on the grid and ensuring security of supply. “In the first two weeks, household usage will be limited to 21 amps between 7pm and 10pm during peak hours when the grid is generally under severe constraint. After this period, load limiting will run concurrently with the loadshedding schedule which will be published on the City Power website,” he said. Residents are warned that there might be planned outages during the roll-out phase, however the utility said the duration of these disconnections would be kept to a minimum. “We are pleased to be embarking on this exciting leg in our network roll-out and we are confident the residents of Joburg will reap immense benefits from the deployment of smart technology. “We plead with the ratepayers to bear with us during this time, and we apologise for any inconvenience caused. The roll-out of load limiting is one of the ways in which City Power is helping the city to achieve its vision of being a world-class African city,” said Xulu. Each user is different and residents will have to test their appliances to see how much they use to stay within the limit for the day. “At the end of the day, if people use electricity correctly, they will see a big reduction in their bills,” said Xulu. Residents who want to receive an SMS telling them to reduce consumption should phone the call centre with their meter numbers. Time-of-use tariffs came into effect at the beginning of the month. People using power during peak time now pay premium rates for electricity, but little for off-peak hours. This is voluntary, and residents have to register to go on to this tariff. City Power is also using the geyser ripple control system, which has been implemented in most houses across the city and is being extended to sectional-title buildings. Through this system, it can switch geysers off remotely when electricity is constrained. For load-limiting details or to register for time-of-use tariffs, call 087 022 0540 or visit the website www.citypower.co.za.
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Managing Your Subscription to This Newsletter
Touchbase Pro, who kindly sponsor the cost of hosting my database of around 6000 email addresses and also the cost of sending these emails, have a good management system for the recipients of the newsletter. At the bottom of each newsletter, there are several options available to you. You can unsubscribe, change your email address, send the newsletter to someone and add a someone to the mailing list. I also usually include a list of links to the online version of the back issues in the bottom section of the right hand column.
Events and DisruptionsThis Weekend
Ben Howard Concert at Zoo Lake on Sat 25 July Expect some disruption at Zoo Lake on the above date. The event starts at 1pm and continues until dark around 6pm.
Walk the Talk – Sun 26 July The Walk the Talk route on the day after the Ben Howard Concert won’t be coming into the Ward. But, it will disrupt any of you trying to get into or through the Greenside, Parkview, Parktown, Emmarentia, Melville area. Be aware of the road closures and make contingency plans.
Parkhurst Village Fair – Sat 25 July
Following the launch of the suburb’s GoGreen community renewable energy initiative, the 2015 Parkhurst Village Fair will have a distinct ‘green’ flavour with various exhibitors displaying their goods to help make the shift to a greener lifestyle. The Fair will showcase all things quintessentially Parkhurst – from food, craft beers, bespoke retailers, live entertainment and a variety of kids’ activities. There will also be a bike track exclusively for kids. Funds raised through the Fair will be applied 100% towards the further improvement of the suburb. Tickets can be pre-booked at www.parkhurstvillagefair.com or at the gate (R50 for adults and R20 for children aged 2-16). If you book online, you can win a fabulous prize from the 4 Seasons Westcliff Hotel. Join and/or Support the DA Please use the following account: DA Sandton Please forward a copy of your EFT to colin@nindav.co.za
Back Issues of Ward Emails 2015 – Loadshedding Changes & Joburg Ombudsman 2014
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