Statement by the City’s Executive Mayor, Patricia de Lille
Mayor De Lille welcomes African Utility Week delegates
Note to editors: the following is an extract from Mayor De Lille’s welcoming
address at the African Utility Week industry awards ceremony, held at the
Cape Town International Convention Centre last night, 13 May 2015.
Good evening, goeie aand, molweni, as-salaam alaikum, shalom.
Welcome to the annual African Utility Week industry awards.
The City of Cape Town is proud to host Africa’s leading event for power and
water utilities professionals – now in its 15th year.
As a government, we are all too aware of the ever increasing demand for
quality and efficient utility services, and the challenges that go with this.
Undoubtedly, the biggest challenge we currently face is the electricity crisis.
While South Africa is the hardest hit by the electricity shortage, it cannot be
denied that a knock-on effect is experienced by our neighbouring African
countries.
Those who receive power from Eskom are also subjected to frequent loadshedding.
The growth of those African countries is also constrained by the lack of
energy supply.
This, however, is leading to many other southern African countries examining
the exploitation of their own energy resources.
Within our own borders, there are also countless consequences – some of
which are unintended.
Increasingly we see that private sector companies are instead opting to go
off the grid completely, in a bid to eliminate the uncertainty of our current
electricity supply.
This has a direct impact on the income of municipalities that rely heavily on
the revenue of electricity sales as a source of income.
As the City of Cape Town, we implement and prioritise cross-subsidisation to
the poor areas.
If a flood of companies no longer buy electricity from us, it has a direct
impact on our ability to provide the poor with subsidised services.
I would therefore like to take this opportunity to appeal to all companies here
present today to consider implementing energy saving methods
incrementally.
Instead of entirely going off the grid, consider the installation of photovoltaic
panels which will allow for you to generate surplus electricity.
In September last year, the City of Cape Town signed the first small-scale
embedded electricity generation contract with Black River Park Investments.
This agreement enables them to utilise large-scale solar power systems to
generate environmentally sustainable energy.
They then produce some of the electricity to meet their own consumption
demands, but additionally feed a limited amount of extra electricity which
they generate back into the City’s electricity grid, which results in them
receiving an offset against their monthly electricity accounts.
We hope that that this will be the first of many small-scale embedded
generation (SSEG) installations to be connected to the City’s grid.
Agreements such as these ensure that alternative energy is harnessed in such
a way that it does not disrupt our ability to provide electricity to those in
poorer areas across the city.
It also ensures that service delivery is not interrupted, considering that a lack
of electricity affects the ability of pumps to reticulate the water supply and
sewage to be removed effectively.
As the City of Cape Town, we are committed to providing our residents with
clean water, electricity and sanitation.
It is only once these and other basic needs have been met that residents will
be able to fully access opportunities to better their lives.
We hope that homes across the city will soon also be able to afford this
option.
This will result in energy users becoming electricity generators, allowing each
of us to make a contribution, and counteracting the current electricity deficit.
While Africa faces many challenges, we have collectively started to turn the
tide, and in these challenges we have started to see opportunities.
Opportunities to find ways of collaborating.
Opportunities to innovate.
Opportunities to strive towards real, sustainable progress.
Tonight, we recognise your successes in Africa’s power and water sector
during 2014/15.
I would like to take this moment to congratulate all of the winners in
advance.
I know that this event is about raising the bar and crafting new benchmarks.
The very fact that you are here in this room tonight makes all of you winners.
I thank you.
God bless.