Sparks Electrical News January 2015

8 contractors’ corner

Electrobase Suppli

Working knowledge by Terry McKenzie-Hoy And so, the year begins ... Have a good one!

DESPITE some fears of load shedding, it was not to be a candle lit dinner at this year’s Electrobase Annual Supplier of the year awards and Eskom managed to keep the lights on for this prestig- ious affair, which was held at the Balalaika Hotel in Sandton on Friday, 21 November. Electrobase, a group of independent electri- cal wholesalers located across Southern Africa, evaluates suppliers based on their products and the services provided to the Electobase group nationally. This year’s silver certificates were awarded to: Bright Star Lighting, Crabtree, Eurolux, Kwikot, Rabro and Sturdy, Reeflite, Strutfast, Stone Stam- cor andWaco Industries. Gold certificates were awarded to Enerji Electrical, HellermannTyton and Major Tech. Waco Industries was awarded the certificate for the most improved supplier. It was an extremely close race this year and HellermannTyton was awarded the much cov- eted award,‘Supplier of theYear’. Alec Hogg, the founder and past owner of Moneyweb and now founder and owner of Biznews.com captivated the audience with an upliftingmessage. He said that a successful entrepreneur will leave politics to the politicians and get on with the task of finding solutions in an ever-changing environment – and that entre- preneurs weather the storms and navigate their way out of them. “Knowwhat you don’t know and stick to what you are good at,”was his advice – an apt message during a rather tumultuous time in South Africa. Once again through the generous contribu- tions from suppliers and service providers together with the proceeds of the raffle held at the dinner, Electrobase raised R17 277 for the SCHNEIDER Electric SouthAfrica has set itself a target to create access to energy for 20 000Africans by the endof this year. An ambitious goal, but the energy efficiency giant believes that this is achievabledue to its solid sustainabledevelopment strategy, products and solutions. ZanelleDalglish, headof sustainabledevelopment for southernAfrica at Schneider Electric says the com- pany needs toprovide solutions to all sectors of society and, for this reason, it has established a programme to address global energy povertywithin its business strat- egy. “Through its global BipBopprogramme (Business, Innovation, and People at the Base of the Pyramid),

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ergy contractor reduces illumination levels too much, people may bring in their own lamps; if heating from air conditioners is reduced, peo- ple will bring in their own bar heaters. Oh, one can regulate the use of private appliances but does one really want this extra trouble? At the same time, beware of the energy performance contractor who claims a fee when the enterprise does something they were go- ing to do anyway – for example, install power factor correction or use infrared heating. Thus, if you have a client who tells you, the local contractor, that they are thinking about employing an energy performance contractor – help the client to establish that the chosen contractor has a good reputation. Something else to think of now in these times of load shedding is the idea of ‘dip proofing’a client’s plant or production process. It goes like this: The client has a standby diesel generator. All the important loads are wired to one busbar. The main incoming supply is fitted with a reverse power relay. All‘not important loads’are wired to a bus- bar, which will de-energise if mains power is lost. Then, when load shedding is anticipated, the diesel generator is started and synchro- nised to the important load busbar in parallel with the main incoming supply. If load shedding occurs, the diesel generator will pick up the important loads and the main incoming supply will trip as will unimportant loads. It does work. Then, the final thing to do for your client is to insist on a test to see if the client’s diesel generator can‘pick up’the full load it is required to in an emergency. This sounds obvious but it’s not. Often clients tell staff that they will be having a‘simulated power failure’on a certain day; and they do this and all goes well. Later, in an actual power failure it doesn’t – because by telling the staff that the test is going to take place, many employees will turn off their computers and electrical stuff before the test, which reduces the load the generator should supply. Tests must be real and unan- nounced. And so…Have a good one.

ONE thing for sure is that the price of electric- ity is going to go up and up and up ... This is good news for many people – sellers of power generators, installers of the same, sellers of solar geysers, solar panels and the like. And, in- variably, there will arise any number of‘energy performance’contractors. An energy performance contractor is a contractor who undertakes to analyse the electricity bill of some enterprise and then fund some changes to theway the enterprise uses electricity – either by applying for a tariff change, installing power factor correction, rationalising compressed air storage, changing light bulbs, or similar. At the end of the process, the contractor pre- sents an invoice, which is based on a calculation of howmuchmoney the enterprise has saved using thesemeasures and the enterprise pays it – awin-win situation. The enterprise savesmoney for ever and didn’t even have to pay for all themodifications to the various items. Now, there are energy performance contrac- tors out there who are good. A clue is to look at the qualifications of the senior staff – they are qualified engineers or technicians and are registered and knowwhat they are doing. But, beware! There are energy performance contractors who are self-appointed crooked, scheming liars who should not be allowed to do what they do. For a start, the electricity bill of any enter- prise varies quite a bit – factors that affect it are the economy, the weather, the time of year, the number of public holidays and, not least, the degree to which the enterprise produces the goods it is supposed to produce. Thus, if an energy performance contractor is to prove that the measures the contractor has introduced have savedmoney, like must be compared with like – the claimed reduc- tion in energy cost must be adjusted for all the above factors, not just compared on a month by month basis or, even worse, on a yearly average basis. It is important that the claimed saving is not at the expense of some other item – if the en-

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Johannesburg Children’s home. Thanks to Crab- tree, Crown Publications, Enerji Electrical, Eurolux, HellermannTyton, Major Tech, Safehouse, Stone Stamcor, Valem Financial Services andWaco Indus- tries as well as all those who bought raffle tickets. Congratulations to all our winners especially to Waco Industries and HellermannTyton – well done! Enquiries: +27 11 023 0314

Creating social change in Africa Schneider Electric develops collective solutions for comprehensive rural electrification, domestic solu- tions for energy-related needs, and the business models that make these solutions sustainable,”she explains.

The company has developed solutions adapted to the means and needs of populations in remote, primarily off-grid communities.“Many of these are solar based, such as our In-diya and Mobiya lighting solutions, both are developed to take advantage of the African sun in order to lessen the burden of daily life in poor and off-grid communi- ties,”adds Dalglish. According to the International Energy Agency, World Energy Outlook, 2013 Factsheet, there are 1,3 billion people worldwide that still do not have access to energy. In addition, there are 2,6 billion people globally, about the joint populations of the US, Europe and China, without cooking facili- ties. TheWorld Resources Institute, in its report “The Next 4 Billion”, reveals that up to 30% of BOP household revenue goes to energy-related needs. “The effects of our solutions can therefore have a far-reaching impact on social and economic development. In projects already undertaken, we have observed an enhancement in lifestyle, safety fromdwelling fires, the ability to study at night and improve education, establishing small busi- nesses, and somuchmore,”says Dalglish. She highlights that to have a significant impact and initiate lasting change, a performance meas- urement tool is a requirement.“Schneider Electric’s Planet & Society barometer covers the triple bot- tom line: planet, profit and people. The results are shared with the public and the measurement tool aims tomobilise the corporate community around sustainable development objectives. “Importantly, we do not want to walk this path alone and encourage partnerships with other businesses, NGOs, NPOs and funders to establish an electrificationmodel and fund our sustain- able solutions, which we sell at cost, to off-grid communities; establishing a consciousness of social and environmental commitments, govern- ance, reducing CO 2 emissions, launching solutions that respect the planet, social changes, local and regional positioning, corporate citizenship, ethics, business and poverty,”concludes Dalglish. Enquiries: +27 11 254 6400

New lighting CEO gets warm welcome in South Africa

The new CEO at OSRAM South Africa was introduced to media and clients at OSRAM’s ultra-modern new offices and showroom in Midrand on 1 December. The new CEO, Tobias Badelt (left) shares his limelight with Robbie Kreymborg (GI head, trade and retail, OSRAM South Africa) and special guest fromOSRAM Germany, Peter Mannhart (regional head, OSRAM, Europe Middle East and Africa). Enquiries: +27 11 207 5600

sparks

january 2015

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