Electricity Savings Campaign 

Background Information

Efficient use of electricity has become increasingly important in view of steeply rising electricity tariffs and the medium-term shortage of South Africa’s electricity supply. The need to reduce operating costs, the cost of inefficient energy use to the economy, the risk of future load shedding and ever increasing carbon emissions all adds up to the urgent need for a concerted effort to improve our electricity efficiency in Cape Town.

Residential electricity consumption accounts for 43 percent of total electricity consumption in Cape Town, while commercial consumption accounts for 40 percent. The city is therefore calling on businesses and mid-to-high-income groups who use the most residential sector electricity to cut their consumption. It is possible for households to cut consumption by up to 40 percent if all of the savings tips are implemented.

Goals of the Initiative

Through its marketing campaign with the slogan “Electricity is expensive. Saving is simple”, the city has devised a practical checklist and developed an information-filled website for households to encourage residents to join the city in taking shared responsibility and saving electricity.

This easy-to-understand information can be found in print advertorials in daily and community newspapers, radio advertisement and on the website www.SavingElectricity.org.za. Commercial building owners and operators can join the Energy Efficiency Forum, via www.capetown.gov.za/EnergyEfficiencyForum.

The city also leads a range of other initiatives as part of this campaign: An Energy Efficiency Forum for commercial building owners and managers has been running very successfully since 2009. These forums provide practical information on energy efficiency solutions and a networking platform for those businesses tackling similar issues. The city has developed Green Building Guidelines and is developing a programme to support the mass rollout of solar water heaters. The city’s Youth Environmental School (YES) programme already reaches about 1,600 schools per year, and electricity saving worksheets for learners, a teachers’ guide and an electricity awareness play have been developed as part of the campaign.

This is an ongoing campaign and will be improved year-by-year in order to find new and innovative ways of encouraging energy savings.

Parties and Partners to the Initiative and Resources Used for Implementation

The city of Cape Town partners with energy-related companies and organizations for sponsorships and helps to promote the saving energy message. We also work closely with Eskom to help customers access their rebates and programmes.

The resources used for implementing the initiative include:

The campaign is funded mainly by the city’s Electricity Department. An external marketing company was awarded the tender to develop the campaign in 2010. Once this one-year contract was completed in June 2011, the city continued running the campaign by its internal staff. The tender for the continuation of this tender for the period from now till June 2015 will be awarded soon and an external company will once again develop the campaign.

Innovation for the Initiative

This is an evolutionary campaign. Since it was started in 2010 we have learnt much from the project and it has evolved a lot since then. As the campaign progresses we will have to come up with new imagery and exciting ways to encourage consumers to save.

The innovation is being applied in the commercial and residential sectors and is linked to one of the city’s energy objectives which is to decrease electricity consumption by 10 percent by 2012 (a new target is being devised). It therefore falls within the strategy and implementation areas as well.

The innovation was inspired by the general need to reduce energy consumption and promote sustainability in order to reduce our carbon footprint. Since the residential sector consumes the most electricity, they are the primary target. The secondary target area is the commercial sector.

Commercial companies are benefitting from the campaign via the Energy Efficiency Forum and the consultant who helped with accessing Eskom programmes.

Obstacles and Solutions for Innovation

Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) is challenging due to external factors.

Outcomes and Assessments

Outcomes achieved are as follows:

This initiative is undertaken at municipal level hence it is locally operational throughout the city of Cape Town. However, the city of Cape Town has been approached by other municipalities in Southern Africa that would like to replicate and expand on the programme. The Electricity Savings Campaign (ESC) marketing strategy aims to create awareness and instill improved behavior and attitude changing practices regarding sustainable and efficient usage of energy. The material is features in newspaper advertisements, radio advertisements and has developed an information-filled website for households to encourage residents to join the city in taking shared responsibility and saving electricity.

The city also leads a range of other initiatives as part of this campaign: An Energy Efficiency Forum for commercial building owners and managers has been running very successfully since 2009. These forums providing practical information was established to address multiple energy related issues such as energy price increases, supply shortages and environmental impacts of electricity generation. The city has developed Green Building Guidelines and is developing a programme to support the mass rollout of solar water heaters. The city’s Youth Environmental School (YES) programme already reaches about 1,600 schools per year, and electricity saving worksheets for learners, a teachers’ guide and an electricity awareness play have been developed as part of the campaign.

To date a significant decrease in electricity usage, as a result of the Energy Savings Campaign, is evident. Furthermore, the city acknowledges the role of energy efficiency in promoting economic development, social welfare and environmental sustainability. The Energy Savings Campaign has tied in with many of the objectives of the city’s Energy and Climate Action Plan.

The city of Cape Town has a target of 25-40 percent electricity consumption reduction from mid-to-high-income households. To this end, the city has promoted and encouraged the importance of both energy efficient equipment and behavior change through the various aspects of the Electricity Savings Campaign. This program highly demonstrates the Energy and Climate Change Units leadership, initiative and innovation and visionary qualities. An extensive monitoring and evaluation programme is in place to enable the city to assess the impact of the campaign. To date a significant decrease in electricity use, as a result of the Electricity Savings Campaign, is evident. Moreover, the city acknowledges the role of energy efficiency in promoting economic development, social welfare and environmental sustainability. Thus the Electricity Savings Campaign has tied in with many of the other objectives of the city’s Energy and Climate Action Plan.

Assessments are as follows:

Research conducted prior to the ESC showed that residents did not know how to save. Credible and simple tips were therefore formulated which also relayed possible savings to residents. The ESC disseminates information through various channels in order to have the largest impact. This includes an Electricity Savings website (www.SavingElectricity.org.za), print advertorials, radio advertisement, rates bills inserts and interactive exhibitions. The city has promoted and encouraged the importance of both energy efficient equipment and behavior change through the various aspects of the campaign. The city aims to facilitate the installation of up to 300,000 solar water heaters through a comprehensive Solar Water Heater Scheme, which forms part of the ESC. There is also a commercial energy efficiency forum and a Youth Environmental School programme with an electricity savings component.

A monitoring and evaluation programme is in place to enable the city to assess the impact of the campaign. To date, a significant decrease in electricity use as a result of the ESC is evident. Electricity sales information shows significant reductions of 11-14 percent over and above the recession. This includes factors such as the recession, tariff increases and the ESC. It is believed that approximately 7-8 percent of this is due to the ESC. The baseline below shows electricity consumption without constraint and is based on historical electricity growth rates of 3 percent per annum. The energy intensity relative to GDP growth also shows a significant drop. 

Methods Applied

In addition to the abovementioned media campaign, the city also leads a range of other initiatives as part of this campaign: An Energy Efficiency Forum for commercial building owners and managers has been running very successfully since 2009. These forums that provide practical information was established to address multiple energy related issues such as energy price increases, supply shortages and environmental impacts of electricity generation. As part of the Energy Efficiency Forum, the city of Cape Town has engaged an energy efficiency integrated demand management consultant to assist commercial entities in accessing the funding support offered by Eskom for energy efficient technologies.

The city has developed Green Building Guidelines and is developing a programme to support the mass rollout of solar water heaters.

The city’s Youth Environmental School (YES) programme already reaches about 1,600 schools per year, and electricity saving worksheets for learners, a teachers’ guide and an electricity awareness play have been developed as part of the campaign.

CoCT goal in providing necessary marketing around the Eskom IDM programmes to facilitate implementation.

The city has recognized that technological changes alone cannot achieve sustainable development but rather targeting the human factor. This is done by educating the recipients of societal development to integrate efficient usage of our resources in order for the city of Cape Town to develop in a long term sustainable manner. To date a significant decrease in electricity usage, as a result of the Energy Savings Campaign, is evident.

Benefits to Other Cities

Currently, the general populous faces multiple energy related issues such as energy price increases, supply shortages and environmental impacts of electricity generation. Despite the switch to more sustainable sources of energy, the increased demand for energy (globally), fossil fuels still remain the dominant energy source, resulting in harmful environmental impacts. The reduction of energy is needed in order to reach our goals set out in the Kyoto Protocol as well as establish a sustainable greener economy for long term benefit. We can reduce energy consumption by using our energy more efficiency, investing in energy efficient technologies and adopting a more energy efficient lifestyle by changing our attitude and behavior.

The above-mentioned reasons and considerations were taken into account for the launch of initiatives such as that of the Energy Savings Campaign, and need to be considered at a wider scale with ever greater urgency. The Electricity Savings Campaign is focused on the implementation of attitude and behavior based energy efficiency programs. This consists of projects which provide residential end-users with information on their energy use, goal settings and simple strategies that encourage efficient energy usage. In addition, the city assists commercial end-users to benchmark the energy usage in their building and methods to improve operating performance through buildings or equipment tune-ups and changes to operation and management routines. These types of programs concentrate on implementation of sustainable energy practices, energy efficient technologies and evaluating energy savings results and has stemmed from changes made at an individual or organizational behavior decision-making level.

Behavior based energy efficiency initiatives represent a source of energy savings which go beyond traditional programs focused on encouraging the adoption of energy efficiency technologies. Energy savings is a broad, context specific field in which we see the characteristics, needs as well as pricing of energy influencing the usage of the user. If you consider mental processes and social influences to affect individual conservation behavior, it is easy to see why the city has made energy savings education of its consumers a high priority.

The city of Cape Town is a leader in climate change aspects in Southern Africa and is implementing policies aimed at the reduction of the emission of CO2 into the atmosphere. It is recognized that technological and institutional changes alone cannot be responsible for efficient energy use but encouraging users of energy resources to make changes in everyday behavior to adjust to a more sustainable way of life works hand in hand in creating shared value.