Reliability worth for a restructured electricity distribution industry

Electricity outages, be they voltage dips or sustained interruptions to supply, generally have an economic impact on the customers affected thereby. The paper describes a recent review of electricity supply interruption performance experienced by and reliability worth to business customers in South Africa and the consequent influence on their investment decisions. The electricity supply industry in South Africa is the largest in the continent, distributing some 186 TWh in 2003, with a maximum demand of 34 GW in mid 2004. The electricity distribution industry is in the process of being restructured into six Regional Electricity Distributors (REDs), combining the distribution networks of Eskom and about 188 municipalities. At present Eskom distributes about 60 per cent of the electricity consumed in South Africa, including that supplied to very large customers.