The tourist town of Clarens nestled in the picturesque Eastern Free State is the first town in the province to manage its load shedding following a transition to load curtailment. It’s been six months now that the tourist town has remained lit, even though the country is experiencing stages of power cuts.
Those at the forefront of the initiative say the transition paves the way to adopt a smart city with smart metering.
Residents have joined hands to come up with measures to avoid job cuts as a result of load shedding and living in the dark. A load curtailment concept has been adopted to reduce the power demand. All this with the backing of residents and business people.
During the country’s load shedding stages, residents are required to reduce the demand by 10 to 20%. And, since the 1st of September 2023, they implemented the load curtailment without fail.
“What we’ve done is install a real meter that provides us with real-time data so when we need to curtail requested by Eskom to save and drop our reduction. We have real-time information that we work with and we distribute that information to the whole community either trough digital channel or we even have loud hailer driving trough the township informing people to save and getting to the targets,” explains Augos director, Gert Kruger.
Businesses and residents are impressed with themselves, having become the first town to overcome the challenges that come with load shedding. The initiative has helped businesses to save millions of rand.
“Obviously, as the rest of the country is affected by load shedding we had to adapt very quickly and try not to close our doors. During load shedding, we ran a very big generator which cost us thousands a month and had a lot of financial strain on us in business and a lot of stress on our stock,” says Clarens Brewery Owner, Lindsey Lotringer.
Another local businessman, Abel Motaung, echoes the sentiments of Lotringer.
“Here in Clarens, you know that you can just do whatever you want to do on your own time.”
Residents say it’s easy to cooperate because load shedding is a nightmare.
“Because we’ve got no load shedding even tourists come every weekend.”
“People lost jobs during load shedding and businesses closing.”
“This has changed our lives even crime is low now.”
“Our lives have changed for the better and we will fully support the load curtailment.”
Clarens in the Free State equipped to manage electricity demand: Agnes Mlambo
