uebmm

defrost timer IT was heartening to see the feverish action around the blown-up Walmer sub-station and the prompt action of the municipality. It was stated that a new schedule of five-hour power cuts was being planned, now we hear that we are back to the two-hour cuts from Monday (“Load-shedding back on track next week”, The Herald, April 23). These cuts affect many people in many different ways. It would be a good idea if the municipality gathered information from the public before making a new hasty decision – perhaps a referendum conducted by The Herald or Algoa FM would be a good idea. Some suggestions: ?Do not bring in a new schedule for at least a month – many people have planned shows, weddings and meetings around the current schedule. ?When a new schedule is planned, let‘s not have load-shedding every day. Like the oil switches at the sub-station, our appliances also don‘t need to go on and off so often and it is a nuisance resetting your stove, microwave, pool pump timer, video, fax machine, light timer and so on every day. ?Give us a four-hour power cut three times a week and make sure the areas affected have traffic cops at the intersections causing the most traffic holdup. There are only four main crossings over the Baakens – at Circular Drive, William Moffett, Target Kloof and near town. Already Circular Drive and Brickmakers Kloof are restrictive, so residents are feeling it. ?Four-way stops at robots are a nightmare, because instead of 60 cars stopping once for one minute, you have 60 cars stopping 60 times for 10 seconds = 600 seconds = 10 minutes. So it takes up to 10 times longer to get through a busy four-way stop! It took 15 minutes to get from the bottom of Target Kloof to the top last Friday – it normally takes about three minutes. All this was in spite of a cop at Five Ways, but that was not problem. It was at the King George‘s Road lights – four-way stop, but no cop. The municipality knows where the power cuts are – make sure cops are there to direct the traffic. The service we are getting is just not good enough. This is crisis time, so stop all speed traps and use those cops to direct traffic from 7 to 8.30am and 4.30 to 6pm in areas affected that day. M Abrey, Walmer, Port Elizabeth ? ? ? MAY I express my appreciation for the hard work and commitment from those working long hours to reinstate the power to the areas affected by the sub-station explosion. They have put something together in record time. On the bright side, although it has been an inconvenience, it has meant we spent some quality time with family and friends getting hot water boiled, having warm showers and sharing meals. Thank you to those who have helped us affected by this. I ask the municipality whether the units they installed in houses to switch off geysers at specific times are operational. Can they indicate which areas have been done and which areas are still to be done, since I think ours was installed almost a year ago? There are rumours circulating that indicate that these devices are not working. I think the recent blackout only serves to highlight the need for the metro to cut consumption. These devices will play an important role. I would install a timer myself, but since I should have this device installed I do not see the need for this expense. If it is not working, the municipality should take responsibility, since it gave us the impression it was doing something when in fact it is not. Nick van den Berg, Walmer, Port Elizabeth ? ? ? I READ in The Herald that times for load-shedding are to be changed and five-hour load-shedding may be introduced. Please leave us with two-hour load-shedding. Most people have got used to it now. Five hours without electricity means that people‘s frozen food will defrost in their freezers – not everyone has generators. I also cannot see that changing times will be of help to people who have businesses to run. Surely you can come up with a better plan? Six days of two hours each is a bit much, but one day for five hours is too long. Trish Earl, Taybank, Port Elizabeth ? ? ? I ASK the municipality to reconsider five-hour load-shedding, as it will hurt business and employees. Many businesses and homes have geared up for shorter outages by investing in costly UPS and generators, tailored around 2?- to-three-hour outages. Increasing the downtime will unnecessarily entail doubling investments again. For example, storage battery prices have risen more than 300 per cent in the last year. Rescheduling for a two-hour outage changes from an inconvenience to rethink in business strategy. Laying off staff for one day a week may become necessary for business survival, and will have consequences especially for working class breadwinners. Two 2?-hour cuts a week is a better option than one five-hour cut per week. B MacMillan, Port Elizabeth   2008-05-13 11:58:19