As a small town heavily reliant on tourism, residents and businesses have managed to avoid scheduled power outages for seven consecutive months.
Gert Kruger, a chartered accountant and owner of Augos consulting company, led the effort. Augos facilitated Clarens’ participation in Eskom’s load curtailment program, enabling businesses to decrease their electricity consumption during times of high demand and bypass scheduled power outages.
By meeting Eskom’s criteria, we earned an exemption, highlighting a collaborative endeavour to monitor and reduce electricity usage.
Residents and businesses in Clarens, heavily dependent on tourism, were severely impacted by rotational power cuts. Many lacked the resources for backup power such as solar or generators, forcing closures during load-shedding.
Gert devised a solution. Augos helped businesses enrol in Eskom’s load curtailment program, allowing them to avoid power cuts by reducing electricity demand by a set percentage during load-shedding stages.
Clarens gathered 1,000 signatures to initiate the program, monitored electricity usage, and Eskom installed a meter. After successful trials, Clarens was exempted from load-shedding from September 1, 2023.
The community collaborates via Facebook and WhatsApp to reduce demand, and the taxpayers’ association uses megaphones to remind residents and businesses.
Failure to comply three times results in removal from the program.