Electrical energy audit and load management for low income consumers

Electricity demand in the informal settlements is increasing rapidly, as more and more people are getting connected and appreciating the advantages of electrical energy. Most of the consumers are low income earners, and their load profile is characterised by predominant morning and evening peaks, resulting in poor load factors. With over a million such customers expected to be connected to the system, their demand pattern is bound to impact on the overall system load profile. Therefore, an understanding of their demand characteristics is going to be essential, in order to develop appropriate measures for improving energy utilisation patterns of such customers, as well as optimise design parameters for their reticulation systems. Studies are being undertaken by utility companies to obtain data on consumption patterns in newly electrified areas, so as to understand their characteristics, and assess their impact on the system load profiles. Data from such studies can be used to optimise designs of reticulation systems for these areas. This paper is based on such a study being conducted in an informal settlement, south of Durban City