Elundini Roads
2.22 Electricity
The statistics as per Community Survey 2016 for access to energy is as follows:
2.22.1 Household access to electricity Table 37: Access to electricity
Source JGDM ELM
In-house conventional meter 21714 6165
In-house prepaid meter 283756 87741
Connected to other source which household pays for 2199 24
Connected to other source which household is not paying for 128 -
Generator 362 170
Solar home system 2832 2322
Battery - -
Other 4206 3659
No access to electricity 57715 44847
Source: Community Survey 2016
2.22.2 Household usage of candle Table 38: Use of candle
Yes No Unspecified
DC14: Joe Gqabi 197556 128730 46626
EC141: Elundini 94124 32907 17899
Source: Community Survey 2016
2.22.3 Municipal survey on electricity
The municipality is distributing electricity to two of the three towns namely Ugie and Maclear in the south, with the whole of rural and Mt Fletcher area to the north being supplied by Eskom.
Access to electricity has progressively improved since the last financial year because there have been some areas around the municipality that have been electrified. This is annually implementation on the Integrated National Electrification Programme INEP funded by Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE).
INEP implementing agencies are Eskom, municipalities and non-grid service providers. The most hit areas still without electricity are the rural villages around the Mt. Fletcher area. The progress in electrification was affected by Eskom demarcation which previously located Mt. Fletcher area in KZN. ELM bills its urban consumers of electricity on a monthly basis.
ELM has developed the Electricity Master Plans, for electricity, for both Ugie and Maclear towns intended for both the development and expansion of electricity infrastructure and supply for both towns. Both the two towns Ugie and Maclear have total transformer installed capacity of 10985kVA and 7680kVA installed respectively.
ELM was given license by NERSA to supply and distribute electricity to the towns of Ugie and Maclear. The municipality is also providing alternative energy, solar system, to Wards 4, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16. The electrification of rural households is largely dependent on the electrification program by ESKOM. The municipality has also approved the implementation of the Solar Water Heating Systems (Solar Geysers) for low income households.
ELM, through its Public Participation Unit, together with the Ward Councillors consolidated a list of all households in all the wards that are still not have been electrified. The electrification backlogs below reflect that there are still 24 221 households, equalling 41% of households who are still not have been electrified and 31 655 households, equalling 59% of households that have been electrified.
The table below depicts the electrification backlogs and planned electrification by ELM:
Table 289: Installation of Solar Heating System
AREAS NUMBER OF UNITS
Bhekela (Ugie) 1 456 units
Takalane (Ugie) 664 units
Ugie Park 250 units
Maclear Phase 1 665 units
Greenfields Maclear 250 units
Mangoloaneng 365 units
Ngcele 500 units
Katkop 500 units
Isinxako (under construction) 486 units
ELM, through its Public Participation Unit, together with the Ward Councillors consolidated a list of all households in all the wards that are still not have been electrified. The electrification backlogs below reflect that there are still 19 010 households, equalling 41% of households who are still not have been electrified and 19 222 households, equalling 59% of households that have been electrified.
The table below depicts the electrification backlogs and planned electrification by ELM Table 40: Electrification backlog
Ward Villages Total H/H Electrified Not Electrified
% Not Electrified
Required to Eradicate Backlog
1 10 2 837 0 612 22% R 14 076 000,00
3 1 200 0 200 100% R 4 600 000,00
4 11 2 697 304 425 16% R 9 775 000,00
5 15 2 704 2 348 356 13% R 8 188 000,00
6 9 4 848 4 732 116 2% R 2 668 000,00
7 26 3 017 548 2 358 78% R 54 234 000,00
8 21 2 422 988 125 5% R 2 875 000,00
9 7 2 354 1 648 706 30% R 16 242 600,00
10 16 3 911 2 999 912 23% R 20 976 000,00
11 12 3 065 2 281 749 24% R 17 227 000,00
12 11 4 430 0 3 895 88% R 89 585 000,00
13 13 2 619 0 1 360 52% R 31 280 000,00
14 12 2 073 486 1 587 77% R 36 501 000,00
15 24 2 826 626 2 200 78% R 50 600 000,00
16 16 3 466 478 2 877 83% R 66 171 000,00
17 16 2 866 1 784 532 19% R 12 236 000,00
TOTAL 220 46 335 19 222 19 010 41% R 437 234 600,00
As per the ESKOM electrification program, below is the plan for electrification for the financial year 2020/2021 in Elundini:
Table 41: Planned electrification by ESKOM
Amahlubi 02 2020/2021 link line and Elundini Extensions 2020/2021 funds to be moved to the Amahlubi 02 2020/2021 households making the total cost of Amahlubi 02 2020/2021 households to be R 8 961 931. The transferred funds will be used to build infrastructure and connect 264 connections
2.22.4 Energy Efficiency and Demand Side Management
In an attempt to reduce energy consumption in municipal infrastructure, Elundini Local Municipality has secured an EEDSM grant from the Department of Energy and National Treasury through section 5(b) of the Division of Revenue Act (DORA) to measure and quantify the current energy consumption baseline and energy savings potential of the municipality. The measurement and quantification of energy consumption baseline are to be achieved through historical electricity bills, and the installation of smart meters, whilst energy savings will be achieved by the replacement of inefficient technologies with energy efficient technologies such as Light-emitting diode (LED) for buildings, public lighting and traffic signals; efficient Heating, Ventilation, and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) system; and efficient motors and variable speed drives for water services plants.
This project consists of two parts to be implemented simultaneously for the following towns: Maclear, Ugie and Mount Fletcher. The EEDSM project shall be implemented in three phases (pending allocations on the EEDSM Grant), namely:
Replacements of High-Pressure Sodium and Induction Street lights with (Light Emitting Diode) LED lighting. The existing public lighting fittings varies from 40W to 1000W;
Retrofitting of tubes and bulbs on the fluorescent lights and other fittings in the Municipal buildings namely (Offices, Libraries and Community Halls, etc). Most lightings in these buildings consists of various types ranging from 14WCFL to 150W mercury vapour fittings. The intention is to replace the bulbs and rewire the fittings to accommodate the new LED tubes/bulbs and fittings occupancy sensors in all offices. It is envisaged that in some cases T5 bulbs and fittings;
Replacements of existing 46 High Mast each consisting of 6 x 1000w on 40m light fittings with a MAXIMUM 400W LED fittings. There are also a number of 9 x 400W fittings on 30m High Mast Lighting that need to be replaced with a Maximum of 200W LED fittings. (Please see tender for technical details of high mast fitting.
2.22.5 Solar Water Heater Geysers
The municipality has also approved the implementation of the Solar Water Heating Systems (Solar Geysers) for low income households in the following areas:
TOWNSHIP NO OF BENEFICIARIES SUBMITTED
Bhekela 343
Takalane & Robben Island
370
Mandela Park 273
Ntokozweni 460
Old Location Ugie 255
Ugie Park 1 212
Vincent Park 270
Maclear 19
Ugie 2
Greenfields 410
Ntokozweni (Ugie) 460
TOWNSHIP NO OF BENEFICIARIES SUBMITTED
Landcamp (Ugie) 382
Clearview (Maclear) 29
Soccerfield (Ugie) 74
Sithole Park (Maclear)
151 Sonwabile
(Maclear)
542
Ugie Town 2
Mount Fletcher 284
JK Bokwe (Ugie) 72
TOTAL 5 610
Additional qualifying areas were identified and submitted to DMRE and the sample of 10% feasibility study was conducted. An estimated 160 SWH installers have been earmarked to be trained within the municipality.
2.22.6 Enrolment of Small Scale Embedded Generation (SSEG) Transition in Our Municipality Due to increases in the price of electricity from the national grid and a steady decline in the price of decentralised generation options such as solar PV small-scale embedded generation (i.e. ‘rooftop’ type systems), decentralised generation sources such as SSEGs are becoming financially more attractive in South Africa. Increasingly such systems are being installed by businesses and residences. It is therefore important that approval procedures are established and standards are adhered to by municipal distributors to regularise this fast changing situation.
Considering these dynamics, municipalities are compelled to re-define their role in the electricity value chain and adapt their funding and operating models. The South African – German Energy Programme (SAGEN) in cooperation with the Department of Energy (DOE) and the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) is providing technical support to municipalities on aspects of this transition.
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Sustainable Energy Africa NPC (SEA) are implementing partners on the SAGEN programme and are focusing on the safe integration of Small-Scale Embedded Generators (SSEG) into municipal infrastructure as well as the development of sustainable business models for municipal utilities. In this regard, our municipality has been granted support among other five municipalities in the Eastern Cape in this transition.
2.22.7 Support to Municipal Energy Management System
Since municipalities in South Africa differ widely in terms of their size, capacity and resources as well as their levels of awareness and implementation of energy efficiency measures. The project accommodated this by identifying three different “categories” of municipalities (Innovators – Aspirants – Beginners) and will implement different and adapted approaches of support suited to the needs of each. In this light, the South African-German Energy Programme (SAGEN) GIZ and its partners, the Department of Energy and South African Local Government Association (SALGA) is supporting selected municipalities to enable them to implement municipal energy management systems (MEMS) within the operational structures of the municipality, with the aim to reduce their own consumption of electricity. In this context, an energy management system refers to a structured process to identify energy cost centres, measure energy supply, identify opportunities for energy savings, plan energy saving interventions, implement interventions and measure and report impact.
The Municipal Energy Management Systems (MEMS) programme offers intense Support for 4 – 6 municipalities in developing a MEMS. Elundini Municipality has been accepted for support in the MEMS implementation for the 2020/21 financial year.
2.23 Transportation
2.23.1 Freight transport
Being a rural municipality, freight transport is an important facility for the Elundini. The various businesses and institutions rely on freight transport services to import most of the food, products and goods needed for local consumption. The growing timber industry in the area places a significant burden on the road network and damage to the roads is evident on most routes. National government has developed a strategy around freight transportation through rail systems. A railway line exists within the municipality but is defunct.
A truck stop in Ugie, owned by PG Bison was completed in 2008 and is operational, creating a significant impact on freight transportation in the area. PG Bison has proposed a by-pass route from MR 723 to R56 via Maclear.
There are problems that are brought about by the heavy duty trucks ferrying logs in particular between Maclear and Ugie towns resulting in excessive silt on surfaced streets and blocking storm water drainage system. In the process of negotiating a bypass around Maclear with PG Bison, there is a need for PG Bison to provide wheel washing bays for their trucks. ELM is also looking at the possibility of constructing a weigh bridge so that the money generated from it can be used back in repairing and upgrading our roads as they are being damaged by the heavy loads carried by the heavy trucks.
2.23.2 Public transport
Related to provision of public transport is the need for basic essential services such as water, sanitation and shelters at key facilities. There is a need to provide these services at all the nodes (rural and urban) as defined in the Spatial Development Plan. Areas with high dependency on public transport especially the primary and secondary nodes should receive priority. These are mostly remote rural of ELM. ELM currently has no vehicle testing station and a weigh bridge in place but there are plans in place for the construction of these two facilities. It must be noted that the municipality only provides for driving licensing for Code 8 and vehicle registration only on behalf of the Department of Transport.
There is no official taxi rank in Ugie but an informal taxi rank, on the main street is being used. This arrangement is not suitable for commuters and there are no shelters, however there are ablution facilities.
There is a formal taxi rank in Maclear in Fourie Street. This taxi rank functions well as it has taxi / bus shelters and ablution facilities for commuters. The taxi rank is insufficient for all the taxis as taxis can be seen using other areas around town as informal taxi ranks. The ablution facilities in the Maclear taxi rank are not well maintained and need to be upgraded. There is a plan to close the storm water drain in the south eastern side of Fourie Street with a view to provide hawkers facilities.
The municipality has completed the construction of the Mount Fletcher Taxi Rank and is now embarking on the construction of the Mount Fletcher Vehicle Testing Station. The taxi rank facility provides for both modes of transport, taxis and busses and as well has facilities for hawkers through the construction of hawkers’ stalls.
The facility also has a management building for the operators of the taxis and the busses.
The following modes of public transport are prevalent in the Elundini Municipality:
Long distance buses, Mini buses and taxis,
LDV bakkies with canopies which also provide scholar transportation, Horseback,
Problems relating to public transportation include the following:
Non availability of a local integrated transport plan. However the municipality is currently developing such a plan,
Poor road conditions,
Lack of designated public transport route,
Lack of capacity at local authority levels to address public transport planning,
Lack of sustainable and dedicated funding for public transport services, facilities and maintenance,
Inadequate scholar, disabled and elderly transport, The illegal use of “bakkies” as public transport vehicles, Ageing of minibus-taxi vehicle fleets,
Lack of public transport information, Public transport safety and security and, Lack of roadworthy testing station 2.23.3 Railway services
The weekly railway transport passenger services between Johannesburg and the Eastern Cape is only accessible at Burgersdorp to the West of the district and has very little impact on the rest of the area, especially Elundini, which is situated in the East of the district. The branch line which used to serve as a freight and passenger facility is no longer operational
2.23.4 Airfields
There are two airfields in the area, which comprise grassed surfaces without lighting for night use. The airfield at Maclear is 1790 meters in length and the airfield at Ugie is 1000 meters in length.
2.23.5 Non-motorised transportation
Mostly, pedestrians in the township walk to various destinations, few use bicycles. The municipality has also constructed sidewalks for use of bicycles.