And the lights go out again.

[Dave A]

Here's a proposed solution that had me chuckling a little bit:

Faizel Royker, an optometrist at Spectacle Select in Vangate Mall, said the blackouts had caused disturbances during consultation times.

"Many of the clients refuse to come back to meet with you and in that way revenue is lost," he said.

Royker is adamant that Eskom should do its load-shedding at night as opposed to during trading hours.

"It's crazy; they should put the lights out after midnight when most of the city is expected to be asleep," he said.
from IOL here

[duncan drennan]

"It's crazy; they should put the lights out after midnight when most of the city is expected to be asleep," he said.

Maybe it would be more practical to only consult at those times?

[duncan drennan]

Does anyone know what changed from the end of last year, to the beginning of this year? Why is it so much worse now? Or does it just feel like more people are being affected?

[Dave A]

Apparently we've already had more load shedding this year than all of last year.

Initially I wondered if something big had come on stream. But nothing like that has been mentioned. I suspect we're experiencing a compound effect of the diminishing surplus in production capacity.

• The generators are being pushed harder - increasing the prospects of "unplanned outages" (breakdowns).
• There is less time available for planned maintenance. Planned maintenance is scheduled for summer anyway in preparation for winter's peak demands.
• The efficiency difference between 1% surplus and 1% deficit is huge. And the deficit must be significantly bigger than that. 1% could have been dealt with by browning out the system (trimming down the voltage), which they've probably been doing quite a lot before we got to the rolling black-out situation anyway.

According to Solidarity, there is also insufficient skilled manpower to keep up with the rate of repair/maintenance required. With union members within Eskom, they probably have a better idea of that than the media - so I'm inclined to believe them even if we factor in that this also favours their own organisational agenda.

The lack of quantitative numbers coming out is a sign to me that there is something there that wouldn't look good under the harsh light of public scrutiny.

Ultimately, everything is pointing to more demand than this time last year (to be expected) and less production.

[RKS Computer Solutions]

Guys, this is a little too late, but I reckon Duncan has done a great job on saving power with your pc's...

I might not be able to help individuals pay much less than advertised pricing on my site, but bulk orders for UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supplies) can be arranged. Also willing to take some %% off for members of TFSA.

I have tried as far as possible giving estimated time-frames for every UPS on the specific product pages, so at least you can start from there when looking...


** Offer valid to TFSA members and companies wanting to buy in bulk

[Chatmaster]

Riaan, how does it work for myself, being in Krugersdorp in terms of delivery? Any additional charges and how long does it take to deliver?

[RKS Computer Solutions]

Roelof, depending on the amount there is a shipping fee, anything above R2500 is free shipping, and Krugersdorp is next day delivery after money is cleared by my bank.

It all depends on how many of which UPS you'd like to order, we can ship nationally as I know you have sites elsewhere than Krugersdorp, these would however be seperate orders for tracking purposes.

No other charges, the price you see on the online shop is the price you pay usually, but the deal for TFSA enitles you to discount purely for being a member here, so will clear that before a final amount can be invoiced.

Any other questions?

[Chatmaster]

I will definitely get back to you on this Riaan. I am currently busy with a lot of major changes within my businesses and once that is sorted and settled I will definitely need some stuff from you.

[RKS Computer Solutions]

Great stuff, anyone else want to take the offer up? Don't want this thread to dissapear before everyone knows!

[Dave A]

I've bookmarked it for future reference.

I've got to get past financial end of year before I even think about it seriously.

[Kevin Stubbs]

Cost of heating water with gas

Can anyone advise me on where I can find info on, the cost of using gas to heat bath water compared to electricity.
I spoke to one person that has gas who claims that is a 1/4 of the price and another that claims it is triple the price.
Kevin

[duncan drennan]

With a gas hot water heater you only heat water when it is needed, so there is no cost in keeping the water hot (as with an electric geyser).

Gas costs more per kilowatt (about double if I remember correctly, but don't quote me on that), so it depends a bit on how much water you are using as to whether you will save or not. I *think* that a domestic household will generally save money using a gas hot water heater.

Do take into consideration that gas (LPG) prices are not regulated, and there were a couple of supply issues last year in the winter. Prices can vary dramatically, especially in the middle of the winter.

I guess that they install two 19kg bottles for that type of thing, so you should always have gas, unless you let both run out (one should carry you over if there is a supply issue).

Come to think of it, the supply issues were mainly with 9kg bottles - I was always able to get the bigger sizes.