January 26, 20233 yr https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-01-17-load-shedding-news-eskom/ no mention of IPPs, nor of revising the resellers tariff. They are talking about refurbishing 2 OCGTs, but the main thrust seems to be load reduction by means of smart meters and ripple switches. I hope they have though this through. At present, on a sunny day, my pool pump and my water heating run off of PV or battery. If they are going to put ripple switches in and force me to run in the small hours, then that will actually add load. But maybe they have calculated that overall the City wins and sorry for me and my batteries.
January 27, 20233 yr Author I have a problem with ripple switches. Not using smart meters to cut off defaulters, but on the geyser or pumps. Years ago I had an electrician install a timer switch on a geyser I wanted to control. He put the switch in the DB where it was easy to get at. Then the problems started. We weren't getting much hot water. Long story short: 1) COJ send the off signal for the ripple switches. Our switch obeyed this signal. 2) Timer then disconnects the geyser from the DB. Now there is no grid power going to the geyser - nor to the ripple switch. 3) COJ send the on signal, but because of (2) the signal never gets to our ripple switch 4) Timer turns on again, but the ripple switch is still off. Eventually the timer was moved to be between the ripple switch and the geyser. So now is this possible? 1) COJ send the off signal. My ripple switch(es) obey 2) Load shedding starts. Now my property has no connection to grid. 3) COJ send the on signal, but we still have load shedding, and so the signal doesn't meet my ripple switches 4) Load shedding ends. My ripple switches stay off. OK... this would result in a significant load reduction. Until people get annoyed, figure out what's going on and bypass the ripple switches. I don't like picking holes in schemes to save power, but in this case I see a possibilty of punishment for people who are doing their bit or have already got timers - or solar! - in place to control their geysers.
January 27, 20233 yr And to add to this - my geyser has been converted to use Heat Pump for heating - so I am already using a 3/4 less energy to heat my water. Maybe they will use their brains and only install the ripple control in homes where there is no solar/heat pumps.
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