Eskom, the South African power utility, has announced that it was offering its business customers free electricity load profile audits, which would assist businesses to free up existing electrical capacity without having to invest in new points of supply and/or upgrades in supply.

Eskom said that sufficient capacity enabled customers to optimally improve their productivity and expand their operations.

The Load Profile Audit and Load Optimisation Solution offered by Eskom forms part of a basket of initiatives and incentives tailored to support business growth, by efficiently increasing production, improving business efficiencies and thereby improving job creation and retention to the benefit of the national economy.

Eskom says having a clear understanding of the potential positive impact of load optimisation and how it can maximise a business’s output requires customers to gather energy use intelligence, which for example includes understanding their energy needs and their electrical systems and associated processes.

Additionally, it is necessary for customers to recognise where and when energy is used at any given time, to investigate the latest technologies and process developments, to analyse how to reduce energy investments costs for example with new supply points, to consider how energy use patterns can be shifted from peak to off-peak periods, to consider how seasonal energy use can be managed, and to manage the constraints on the energy system to optimise energy use.

Eskom’s Energy Advisors specialise in assisting customers to gather intelligence and understand their energy needs. This understanding of energy use patterns in a specific operation helps to determine how much additional capacity is needed and how to restructure or trim current demand to free up capacity to grow the operation.

“Opportunities for load optimisation may include establishing a regular maintenance programme, adding and managing power factor correction, switching off unnecessary equipment or processes during certain times of the day, and shifting demand from peak to off-peak time-of-use periods to help free up capacity. Eskom’s free load profile audits help to improve energy productivity across all sectors of the economy in support of business growth,” says Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe.

For further details e-mail advisoryservice@eskom.co.za or call 08600 37566.