Makhado (Louis Trichardt) is at present gripped in a major electricity supply crisis, but, says the Makhado Municipality, a total collapse of the entire electricity supply network is not likely.

Amidst the town’s continued water supply and sewage problems, few residents are aware of the town’s dire electricity situation, mainly because the lights are still on. The sheer scope of the crisis came to the fore in the municipality’s response to a question by the Zoutpansberger about the present state of the town’s electrical network with regard to capacity, maintenance and development. This and other questions were put to them when it became known that the municipality is at present not approving any new developments of which the electricity demand exceeds 100KVA. In layman’s terms, 100KVA is enough for a single housing development of about 30 small flats or 20 small housing units, but not enough for a development the size of Makhado Crossing or even a restaurant in need of more than 100KVA to run its kitchen. Other factors that contributed to growing concerns over a total collapse of the town’s electrical infrastructure included rumours of major budget cuts in maintenance, due to a lack of funds, a massive backlog in maintenance and the poor quality of service.

“Severe constraints, lack of bulk capacity, huge maintenance backlogs, poor quality of supply and service. With the resources available we can only manage emergency maintenance,” was the response received from the municipality on Tuesday.

With regard to the restriction placed on new developments exceeding a 100KVA demand, the municipality explained that their decision is twofold: First of all, the municipality stated that their restriction is in line with the national Eskom restriction that 100kVA can be allowed to be connected to the grid when a national 10% saving is maintained from all customers in South Africa. This, they said, is to still allow the economy to grow. Secondly, in line with the national restrictive norm in respect of the capacity constraints, the municipality added, they also adopted a restrictive approach, mainly due to the current capacity constraints experienced at the town’s main Eskom substation.

“The substation is running [at] full load and has reached overload conditions in the recent past. This overloading has severe financial implications for the municipality with regard to maximum demand exceedence penalties to Eskom. Furthermore, it has technical risks in terms of the quality of supply and services to all the customers connected to this substation. Therefore, all applications that exceed 100kVA are referred by detailed technical report to top management for consideration, taking into account all risks. Small- to medium-size applications directly related to bulk services such as sewerage, water etc. are being approved as its cuts across all customers of the municipality. Very large applications cannot be considered as the main substation cannot currently supply these loads,” the municipality said.

The municipality’s current NMD (notified maximum demand, which is the size of the electrical supply granted to the municipality), is 44MVA. The municipality has admitted that the town’s electricity demand already exceeds the supply at times .

“We have already recorded 43.5[MVA] in December 2012, 44.1 in June 2012, and 45 in November 2011. The exceedence has therefore occurred once each financial year but was fortunately just below the penalty threshold,” the municipality said.

In light of the obvious electricity supply constraints, the municipality was asked why the town’s electricity quota has not been upgraded. They responded by stating that the municipality had applied for an upgrade. It is, however, unlikely that such an upgrade will take place in the near future as the municipality has no money to do this.

The Zoutpansberger could determine that it would cost in the region of R100 million to upgrade the town’s present 44MVA capacity to 100MVA.

“This is the correct figure … It must be noted that this cost will only be on the Eskom side and the municipality’s side will also have to be upgraded. No cost has yet been determined in this regard. The 100MVA is to address the immediate demand and to cater for the next 20-30 years' possible growth of the town,” the municipality said. Worryingly enough, the municipality also indicated in their reply that “due to financial constraints, the municipality was and is not in a position to lay out this huge amount of capital for the upgrading". The municipality’s dire financial situation with regard to the much-needed and urgent upgrade of the town’s main substation is also reflected in the draft budget for 2013/14.

“The budget is not making provision for any substation as the amount is just too high. Applications are currently being launched with financial institutions in order to try and obtain funding for these projects. A new application is made to Eskom for the Levubu supply at the Eskom Ribolwa substation. The costs hereof are approximately R60mil. A further R8mil is needed on the municipal side to inter-connect to the Eskom grid and to secure enough capacity to the Beauford substation in Levubu. Should this materialise, it will free up approximately 10MVA in the Makhado main substations, which can then be used for further development up to 44MVA again,” the municipality stated.

The municipality’s draft budget for 2013/14 further shows that an amount of R42 601 000 has been budgeted for the electrical department. All projects are to be funded from municipal income, except the R25 million to be financed by the INEP for infrastructure development in Eskom areas. If one takes the R25 million away, as well as the R1,7 million to be spent on vehicles and just more than R1 million on tools and equipment, about R15 million is left for actual infrastructure development and maintenance in the whole of the municipal area. The municipality was asked if they thought this was enough.

The municipality responded by stating: “The electrical engineering funding for both capital and operation can never be enough. We have a huge backlog on maintenance of the entire network. Although the budget reflects these amounts, it most of the time does not materialise, hence the backlog becomes bigger by the year. “

The big question was whether the municipality could assure residents and developers that a total collapse of the town’s electrical infrastructure is not imminent.

“A total collapse of the entire network is not likely, due to the fact that we have seven intake points at different places in the municipality. What can happen is that very long delays in restoring power failures may occur due to a lack of adequate resources to attend to urgent emergencies. Substandard quality of supply may be a major risk. If the restriction has not been put in place over the last couple of years the town’s network might have collapsed by now,” the municipality stated.