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Cape Town - City Power Managing Director, Sicelo Xulu has added another feather in his cap when he scooped the coveted African Utility Executive of the Year Award at the African Utility Week Industry Awards in Cape Town on Wednesday evening.
Xulu was recognised for the innovative and smart initiatives that City Power introduced to the market.
This prestigious award, celebrates the outstanding accomplishments of a CEO from an African water or power utility in the past year.
Xulu was up against the most seasoned and accomplished executives from across the continent, including Bassey Nkamado, President and CEO of N Squared Integrated Electric Company in Nigeria; Ben Chumo, CEO of Kenya Power and Lighting Company; Charles Chapman, former Managing Director, Umeme, Uganda; William Amuna, Chief Executive, Ghana Grid Company and William Hutton-Mensah, former Managing Director, Electricity Company of Ghana and Director of Distribution, Ministry of Power.
City Power said in a statement the innovative and smart initiatives it implemented significantly improved billing accuracy, enhanced revenue generation for municipalities and contributed markedly to managing electricity usage and reducing pressure on the national grid.
These interventions include the rollout of smart meters and solar geysers across Johannesburg and the introduction of smart technologies such as ripple control, load limiting and time of use.
Last week, City Power announced that it has implemented a long-term, mitigating strategy to keep the lights on when Eskom implements load shedding.
Accenture (Resources SA) MD Brett Grobbelaar gave City Power’s MD Sicelo Xulu the award at the annual African Utility Week Industry Awards in Cape Town.
“It is a long-term strategy where we look at the capacity generated by independent power producers and compare it to Eskom’s available capacity,” City Power's Hloni Motloung told Fin24.
During last week's load shedding City Power was able to augment its power supply by getting excess capacity from Kelvin Power Station and from the activation of load limiting in certain areas, he said.
“Load limiting allows City Power to remotely monitor household energy usage and curb excessive consumption using smart meters, while ripple control allows the utility to switch off energy-intensive geysers when the grid is under pressure.”
According to City Power ripple control has freed up an extra 110 MW of power, while the rollout of solar geysers have availed an additional 60MW of electricity.
Xulu said the award is a tribute to the exceptional work from his executive and management team. "It pays homage to the untrammelled vision that the Board and members have articulated and it is an acknowledgement of the diligent work done by the entire workforce of City Power which gave expression and impetus to this vision,” Xulu said at the awards, which are part of the annual African Utility Week and Clean Power Africa conference currently under way in Cape Town.
The African Utility Week brings together thousands of utility professionals from across the globe to learn, share knowledge and debate the key topics that will secure the future development of Africa’s power industry.
