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1860 The first electric telegraph system, which operates between Cape Town and Simon’s Town, is introduced.
1879 Thomas Edison perfects the electric light bulb.
1882 Electric lighting is installed in parliament.
1882 An arc-lighting installation is commissioned in the harbour.
1891 One of Cape Town’s first private lighting installations, that of Mr CD Rudd, a prominent citizen of the day and partner of Cecil Rhodes, is installed in his home in Newlands. Another privately owned lighting installation is installed in the home of Mr C Pigot-Moodie, in Rondebosch. The first electrically-lit street light in the Cape Peninsula is erected at Rondebosch Fountain and is supplied from the above installation.
1892 A small privately owned power station is established at Westerford Bridge, Newlands.
1895 The Graaff Electric Lighting Works at Molteno reservoir, Oranjezicht, is inaugurated, followed by the official switching on of the City’s first street lights from the Town House, Greenmarket Square. This is Cape Town municipality’s first power station.
1896 The first electric tram service in Cape Town runs from Adderley Street to Mowbray.
1904 The Central Electric Station in Dock Road is officially opened. This is the Cape Town municipality’s second power station.
1907 Kalk Bay municipality’s Muizenberg power station is officially opened.
1913 All of the independent southern Peninsula municipalities (apart from Wynberg, which only joins in 1927) are unified into the City of Greater Cape Town.
1920 Molteno power station shuts.
1923 The Muizenberg power station shuts. The Electricity Supply Commission (Eskom) is established under the Electricity Act.
1927 The Council opens its first showroom for the demonstration of domestic appliances.
1928 Eskom’s Salt River No.1 power station goes into full commercial operation.
1930 The Council introduces a hire-purchase scheme for the sale of domestic electrical appliances.
1933 The Council authorises the use of trolley buses.
1939 The first stage of the Council’s new Table Bay Power Station in Dock Road is placed in full commercial operation.
1952 Table Mountain is floodlit by searchlights to commemorate Jan van Riebeeck’s landing.
1955 Power is generated at Eskom’s Salt River No.2 power station.
1962 The Council’s new coal-fired Athlone power station is officially opened. The old Dock Road power station is finally shut down and decommissioned.
1966 Table Mountain is lit up for the fifth anniversary of the Republic. The xenon floodlights later become a permanent installation.
1973 A gas turbine generating plant is commissioned at Athlone.
1979 The Council’s Steenbras pumped-storage scheme is officially opened. Eskom’s Salt River No.1 power station is shut down.
1981 A second gas turbine generating plant is commissioned in Roggebaai.
1984 Koeberg starts operating.
1989 The demolition of the Table Bay power station is completed.
1993 The City’s first prepayment meter is officially switched on.
1994 The Salt River No.2 power station is shut and decommissioned.
1995 The Athlone power station is returned to full commercial operation after having been effectively shut down for the past 10 years.
2005 The first Regional Electricity Distributor is set up here.
Taken from “Lighting up the Fairest Cape” by Dennis Palser. He joined the City as a graduate electrical engineer in 1951 and retired as City Electrical Engineer in 1986 |
