About 25 000 Cape Town residents are needed to sign up for the City’s Power Heroes Programme, aimed at reducing demand of 60 MW in order to protect residents against full-stage load shedding.
The programme, which was recently approved by the council, is voluntary, will be rolled out in phases and will be achieved by switching off non-essentials, such as pool pumps, at a certain time through the installation of a smart device.
Customers who choose to participate can opt to have the smart device installed in their home or business free of charge by the City’s appointed service provider.
The device enables the City to remotely switch off geysers, pool pumps or non-essential appliances in residential and commercial buildings.
The City says: “The Power Heroes programme will be focused on residential and small commercial customers within the City of Cape Town’s electricity supply area, not Eskom customers.
“All low-voltage (LV) customers with a maximum demand of less than 1MVA will be encouraged to participate in this important programme.
“The aggregator needs to reach around 25 000-50 000 customers in order for us to meet our target of 60 MW in demand reduction.”
Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says the effect of thousands of installed devices will mean that, when Eskom requires load reduction, Power Heroes will be called on to support the effort and have their non-essential appliances remotely turned off as agreed.
Hill-Lewis says: “This entire voluntary programme will be rolled out in phases and is one of the most cost-effective ways to mitigate load shedding.
“With Team Cape Town at the helm, I am absolutely confident that we will achieve the target of a full stage of load-shedding protection.”
zolani.sinxo@inl.co.za