Question NW1873 to the Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services

Reply:

I have been advised by the Department and Entities as follows:-

(a)   DEPARTMENT

The Department has not installed generators in its offices; it is currently renting offices that have generators installed by the landlord.

1. Not applicable
2. No costs

(b)

.ZADNA

Zadna has not installed generators in its offices; it is currently renting offices that have generators installed by the landlord.

1. Not applicable
2. No costs

NEMISA

No, the building had an already existing generator from occupation of the building.

(ii) January 2015

• Petrol: R 2 000
• Service: R0

February 2015

• Petrol: R2 000
• Service: R 3 311.70

 

March 2015:

• Petrol: R0
• Service:R0

April 2015:

• Petrol: R 2 000
• Service: R0

May 2015:

• Petrol: R0
• Service: R0

June 2015:  

• Petrol: R2000
• Service: R0

Total cost to date: R 11 311.70

THE SOUTH AFRICAN POST OFFICE (SAPO)

SAPO has not installed any generators as of January 1, 2015.

Broadband Infraco (BBI)

Broadband Infraco has not had to installed any generators or expand on its existing fleet of mobile generators as a result of load shedding since 1 January 2015.

SENTECH

SENTECH has not installed any generator at any of its offices since January 2015 due to load shedding.

SENTECH already has generators installed as part of its normal operations of ensuring that its offices have standby power.

SENTECH has standby generator capability at most of its infrastructure sites to protect services against normal power disruptions to ensure services continuity. The Eskom load shedding situation does impact sites without back-up power and increase operating costs due to increased standby plant running hours and associated maintenance and fuel costs.

Most of SENTECH sites have Stand by Generators (STG’s) already installed. From January 2015, a new STG was installed at Kroonstad as a replacement due to the failure of the existing one. SENTECH is also installing STG’s at its three Greenfield stations at Harrismith, Holy Cross and Ngqeleni. The installations at these three sites form part of SENTECH’s normal installation on all new transmitter sites to ensure continuous service during power outages.

The installation cost per site is as follows:

Harrismith STG: R535 244. 25

Holy Cross STG: R445 553. 00

Ngeleni STG: R437 759. 50

Kroonstad STG: R267 133. 75

Total R1 685 690. 50

Towards the end of the previous financial year and during severe load shedding periods, SENTECH reviewed energy expenditure and determined that SENTECH plants were running 30% more than normal, meaning that operating costs will increase accordingly. The following amount has been spent on fuel for generating standby energy.

Monthly Cost

Jan-2015 668 917

Feb-2015 1 085 850

Mar-2015 535 739

Apr-2015 1 120 166

May-2015 759 142

Jun-2015 300 651

Total 4 470 465

USAASA

USAASA has a generator provided by the landlord in 2010.  No other generator has been purchased since January 2015. The running of this generator is R31, 661.10 annually.

SITA

SITA has installed a rented generator for the SITA Centurion Data Centre, commissioned in January 2015.

The table below reflects the costs associated with preparing the site prior to installation of the generator as well as monthly costs for the rental of the generator installed at SITA’s National Key point (NKP) Centurion Data Centre:

No	Activity	(ii) Running Cost from January 2015 to June 2015	(i) Cost of installation
1.	2200 kVA Diesel Generator rental for per month	R 1 624 500 (R 270 750 x 6 months)
2.	Cable Laying which was done as the first step		R 4 224 156
3.	Electrical control panels for generators which was installed to connect the new generator to the SITA existing grid		R 1 026 000
4.	Alarm systems to enable early warning via SMS messaging		R 273 600
5.	Project Management Fee to manage the above		R 927 070
6.	Diesel fuel (One fill at deliver)		R 95 760
	TOTAL COST	R 1 624 500	R 6 546 586