City Power Johannesburg has announced plans to deploy an intelligent distribution system (IDS) to curb energy theft, reduce technical losses and improve network reliability. The announcement was made by City Power COO Charles Tlouane at the Huawei Global Electricity Power Summit in Shanghai, China, on September 19.
City Power estimates total energy losses are around 30%, comprising 9% technical losses such as line losses and transformer imbalances, and 20% non-technical losses related to theft, illegal connections and billing issues. These losses amount to approximately R3,6 billion per year, Tlouane said.
The IDS will be installed at mini and transformer substations to monitor supply within specific areas of the network. Unlike conventional smart meters that track usage at customer level, the system monitors entire sections of the grid to identify theft, imbalances and other issues, he said. Pilot testing was carried out in Tshepisong, Roodepoort and Bryanston, among others.
The rollout will be phased over five years, starting with large power users, followed by businesses and eventually expanding across the city. In addition to the IDS programme, City Power also announced that it is developing electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at its service delivery centres ahead of the launch of its EV fleet expected in the coming weeks.
