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Power Heroes Programme

<span> <h2 class="sectHeading">What is the Power Heroes Programme? </h2></span> <p>The Power Heroes programme forms part of the City’s Demand Response Programme, which aims to protect our customers from load-shedding by lowering electricity demand, while we work on getting additional generation onto the grid. </p><p> The programme, focusing on the installation of smart meter devices that can be operated remotely by the City’s Network Control Centre, aims to target a total of 60MW in demand reduction, which means that, once enough customers have signed up, all City-supplied areas can avoid up to one stage of load-shedding. <br></p><p>Switching off non-essential loads, such as geysers and pool pumps, when the electrical network is constrained is one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce demand and mitigate load-shedding. </p><p>For participating Power Heroes, this means they get better visibility on their electricity consumption to enable energy savings and, more importantly, they become part of the solution by working together to reduce the impact of load-shedding in Cape Town. </p><h2 class="sectHeading">How the Power Heroes Programme works</h2><p>The tender for the programme has been awarded to a third party aggregator, Ontec Karebo Joint Venture (JV), for implementation and management. Once contracting has been concluded, Ontec Karebo JV will be responsible for recruiting customers, installing devices and managing load reduction when needed by the City. </p><p>Participation is voluntary and is subject to prequalification criteria, as there is a limited number of smart meter devices and we need to ensure that we get optimal load reduction from the customers that participate. To register your interest visit <a href="https://www.capetownpowerheroes.co.za/" target="_blank">www.capetownpowerheroes.co.za<i class="icon link-external"></i></a>.<br></p><p> Customers participating will sign a contractual agreement with Ontec Karebo JV, outlining the participation arrangements. The City will not be involved in this agreement. Ontec Karebo JV will then install smart devices, free of charge, on non-essential appliances, agreed to by the customer. At a household level, these are typically electricity-intensive items such as geysers and pool pumps. <br></p><p>When the City is required by Eskom to move to a higher stage of load-shedding, the required load reduction will be implemented from the City’s Network Control Centre. </p><p> The main incentive for customers to participate in the Power Heroes programme is the ability of the City of Cape Town to eventually protect City-supplied customers from the effects of one stage of load-shedding, once enough customers have signed up and are participating. </p><p> The City’s load-shedding mitigation using the Steenbras Hydro Pumped Storage Scheme will continue to be implemented, and all work continues on the City’s plans to end load-shedding over time.<br></p><h2 class="sectHeading">Who can sign up to be a Power Hero?</h2><p>Residential and small commercial customers in the City of Cape Town’s supply area are eligible to participate in the programme. Certain areas will initially be targeted depending on their load-reduction potential, and in alignment with the City’s pre-defined load-shedding blocks. </p><p> Residents in Eskom-supply areas, and City-supplied large commercial and industrial customers will not be able to participate in Power Heroes. The City does have a Large Power Users (LPU) curtailment programme, for more information on this, <a href="https://web1.capetown.gov.za/web1/websitefeedback/?id=%20ded177c3-71ed-4ec4-93e3-ba8c57fed07d" target="_blank">contact us</a>. </p><h2 class="sectHeading">How to join<br></h2><p>Once the contract with the service provider, Ontec Karebo JV, has been concluded, the programme will be rolled out in phases giving Ontec Karebo JV time to sign up customers and procure the smart devices. Joining is voluntary – there is no obligation to sign up if you are contacted. <br></p><p>Once the pre-qualification of customers is completed, Ontec Karebo JV will arrange to install the smart devices. <br></p> <span> <div class="notification with-heading dark-copy pink bg-light-grey"><div class="graphic with-border"> <i class="info remember"></i> </div><div class="desc"><h4>Remember</h4><p> Always check identification before allowing anyone onto your property.</p></div></div></span> <h2 class="sectHeading">Register your interest</h2><p>If you are a small commercial or residential customer in a City-supply area and are interested in being part of the Power Heroes programme, you can register your interest at <a href="https://www.capetownpowerheroes.co.za/" target="_blank">www.capetownpowerheroes.co.za<i class="icon link-external"></i></a>. </p><p>Once the contractual elements have been concluded the Ontec-Karebo JV will communicate further information.</p><p> <strong>Choose to be a hero:</strong> Your participation will help the City avoid the effects of load-shedding on our economy and does not cost you anything. </p>

Residential and small commercial customers in City-supplied areas can now sign up to be Power Heroes.