NATIONAL ASSEMBLY QUESTION NUMBER 1892
Mr D C Ross (DA) to ask the Minister of Energy:
Whether she has been informed by the Ngwathe municipality in the Free State
of the (a) current capacity problems with the high power cable between
Koppies and Kwakwatsi, (b) lack of maintenance on the transformers within
this power grid and (c) need of a second computer system that will allow
more residents of this area to buy prepaid electricity; if not, in each
case, what is the position in this regard; if so, what steps has she taken
to deal with these problems in each case? NW2130E
REPLY
The department was not informed of the challenges facing Ngwathe
Municipality, but any quality of supply related incidents need to be
reported to the National Regulator of South Africa. The regulator is
empowered through the Electricity Regulation Act of 2006 to impose licence
conditions and the quality of supply standard is one of the conditions. It
is empowered to impose a penalty on the licensee for lack of compliance
with the licence conditions. The Minister may only intervene if the
regulator could not resolve the matter.
With regards to prepaid metering system, the department may not impose the
type of meters that must be installed by the distributor. However,
regulations on norms and standards for reticulation services (the
regulation) were promulgated in 2008. According to the regulation, any
household with consumption above 1000kWh per month must have a smart system
at least by 2012. A smart system will provide similar benefits as the
prepaid meter whilst allowing the distributor to control demand in its own
area of supply to avoid load shedding.[pic]