Turn the clock forward to ease load on Eskom

IMAGINE if we could alleviate South Africa's power crisis by something as simple as turning the clocks back.

IMAGINE if we could alleviate South Africa's power crisis by something as simple as turning the clocks back.

But as it is not possible to go back and review the disastrous government decisions about investment in the power supply chain in the 1990s, why not turn the clocks forward?

It is called daylight saving time and could help alleviate the considerable burden that the country's national grid is under.

The National Energy Regulator this week gave Eskom the go-ahead to recoup R7.8-billion in costs that have been run up in the past three years by its customers.

That is you and me, and is in addition to an already-approved inflation-busting 8% annual increase, and will be implemented from next April.

In real terms, the cost of flicking on a light switch will rise by more than 10%, excluding whatever increase your municipality plonks on top.

It is time to get innovative.

If we accept the inevitability of rising costs when it comes to building power stations and generating electricity, we need to think differently about how we use the stuff.

Daylight saving time is a no-brainer.

Essentially it makes the early mornings shorter and lengthens the number of hours of sunlight at the end of the day.

Sound implausible?

Actually, it is not that complicated and will suit pretty much everyone except farmers and avid athletes. Most of us miss the early morning sunrise in summer anyway.

It happens in many of the world's most productive countries.

It not only has significant lifestyle benefits but also has the added potential to even out the massive spike in power demand Eskom sees on a daily basis as frenetic families arrive home to prepare the evening meal, bath kids and put them to bed by sunset.

Delay sunset and you could soften that demand peak.

Confused? Well, yes, it does take some getting used to.

How would it work?

In early spring we would move our clocks one hour ahead: 5pm would become 6pm and 5am Central African Time would become 6am Daylight Savings Time .

In late autumn we would revert to Central African Time.

Here is the big advantage: daylight saving time allows us to use less energy in lighting our homes at night by taking advantage of the longer and later daylight hours.

Assuming daylight saving time lasted eight months, it might just buy us a respite.

Sure, it does nothing to alleviate the winter crunch - but considering that Eskom uses the summer months for maintenance, taking pressure off the grid might just provide it with some breathing space to massage the maximum from its ageing and creaking network.

Financial services group Discovery is investigating whether there are tangible health benefits to moving the clocks around.

Its vehicle insurance arm might benefit, courtesy of better road visibility in the evenings, and extended daylight hours would surely encourage more time outdoors and would amplify healthier lifestyles - although there's no science to back that up yet.

It would make the post-work commute safer and more pleasant and would provide us with more time in communities to have more of us enjoy our evenings before darkness descends.

Crucially, however, it might go some way to spread peak demand over a longer period, lessening the dramatic spike we currently see.

Eskom has enough electricity - its network, however, is under its most severe demand during the evening peak.

Critics may point out that studies in Australia have shown that rather than leading to a marked drop in evening consumption, more electricity was required in the mornings, and in California, a 2007 study found there was little impact on consumption.

That, however, misses the point. If Eskom could have a bigger evening window across which to spread its demand it would provide much-needed breathing room.

One of the new proponents of the idea is FNB's former innovator-in-chief, Michael Jordaan, who said that it would not only save energy but reduce Eskom's considerable coal bill and might also over time alleviate some of the urgency about building new power stations.

What if, as a country, by simply implementing daylight saving time, we could avoid the need to build one or even two new power stations over the next 20 years?

The only flaw in the argument, perhaps, is that you cannot issue a tender for turning the clocks back.