Hessequa
South Africa
South Africa
Electricity Supply By-law, 2022
- Published in Western Cape Provincial Gazette 8600 on 3 June 2022
- Commenced on 3 June 2022
- [This is the version of this document from 3 June 2022 and includes any amendments published up to 9 June 2023.]
1. Definitions
In this by-law, unless inconsistent with the context—"accredited person" means a person registered in terms of the Regulations as an electrical tester for single phase, an installation electrician or a master installation electrician, as the case may be;"applicable standard specification" means—SANS 1019 Standard voltages, currents and insulation levels for electricity supply, or any revision or substitution thereof;SANS 1607 Electromechanical watt-hour meters, or any revision or substitution thereof;SANS 1524 Parts 0,1 & 2 Electricity dispensing systems, or any revision or substitution thereof;SANS IEC 60211 Maximum demand indicators, Class1.0, or any revision or substitution thereof;SANS IEC 60521 Alternating current electromechanical watt-hour meter (Classes 0.5, 1 & 2), or any revision or substitution thereof;SANS 0142 Code of practice for the wiring of premises; or any revision or substitution thereof;NRS 047 National Rationalized Specification for the Electricity Supply-Quality of Service or any revision or substitution thereof;NRS 048 National Rationalized Specification for the Electricity Supply-Quality of Supply, or any revision or substitution thereof; andNRS 057 Electricity Metering: Minimum Requirements; or any revision or substitution thereof;"certificate of compliance" means a certificate issued in terms of the Regulations in respect of an electrical installation or part of an electrical installation by an accredited person;"consumer" in relation to premises means:(i)any occupier thereof or any other person with whom the Municipality has contracted to supply or is actually supplying electricity thereat; or(ii)if such premises are not occupied, any person who has a valid existing agreement with the Municipality for the supply of electricity to such premises; or(iii)if there is no such person or occupier, the owner of the premises;"credit meter" means a meter where an account is issued subsequent to the consumption of electricity;"electrical contractor" means an electrical contractor as defined in the Regulations;"electrical installation" means an electrical installation as defined in the Regulations;"high voltage" means the set of nominal voltage levels that are used in power systems for bulk transmission of electricity in the range of 44kV<Un ~220 Kv, as contemplated in SANS 1019: 2008, or any revision or substitution thereof."low voltage" means the set of nominal voltage levels that are used for the current alternating distribution of electricity and whose upper limit is generally accepted to be an a.c. voltage of 1000V ( or a d.c. voltage of 1500 V). [SANS 1019] or any revision or substitution thereof;"medium voltage" means the set of nominal voltage levels that lie above low voltage and below high voltage in the range of 1 kV < Un ~44 kV. [SANS 1019];"meter" means a device which records the demand or the electrical energy consumed and includes conventional and prepayment meters;"motor load, total connected" means the sum total of the kW input ratings of all the individual motors connected to an installation;"motor rating" means the maximum continuous kW output of a motor as stated on the maker's rating plate;"motor starting current" in relation to alternating current motors means the root mean square value of the symmetrical current taken by a motor when energized at its rated voltage with its starter in the starting position and the rotor locked;"municipality" means the Municipality of Hessequa, established in terms of Section 12 of the Municipal Structures Act, 117 of 1998, and includes any political structure, political office bearer, councillor, duly authorized agent or any employee acting in connection with this by-law by virtue of a power vested in the municipality and delegated or sub-delegated to such political structure, political office bearer, councillor, agent or employee;"occupier" in relation to any premises means—(a)any person in actual occupation of such premises;(b)any person legally entitled to occupy such premises;(c)in the case of such premises being subdivided and let to lodgers or various tenants, the person receiving the rent payable by such lodgers or tenants, whether on his own account or as agent for any person entitled thereto or interested therein, or(d)any person in control of such premises or responsible for the management thereof, and includes the agent of any such person when he or she is absent from the Republic of South Africa or his/her whereabouts are unknown;"owner" in relation to premises means the person in whom is vested the legal title thereto; provided that—(a)in the case of immovable property—(i)leased for a period of not less than 50 years, whether the lease is registered or not, the lessee thereof, or(ii)beneficially occupied under a servitude or right analogous thereto, the occupier thereof;(b)if the owner as hereinbefore defined—(i)is deceased or insolvent, has assigned his estate for the benefit of his creditors, has been placed under curatorship by order of court or is a company being wound up or under judicial management, the person in whom the administration of such property is vested as executor, administrator, trustee, assignee, curator, liquidator or judicial manager, as the case may be, or(ii)is absent from the Republic of South Africa, or if his address is unknown to the Municipality, any person who as agent or otherwise receives or is entitled to receive the rent in respect of such property, and(iii)if the Municipality is unable to determine who such person is, the person who is entitled to the beneficial use of such property,will l be deemed to be the owner thereof to the exclusion of the person in whom is vested the legal title thereto;"point of consumption" means a point of consumption as defined in the Regulations;"point of metering" means the point at which the consumer's consumption of electricity is metered and which may be at the point of supply or at any other point on the distribution system of the Municipality or the electrical installation of the consumer, as specified by the Municipality or any duly authorized official of the Municipality; provided that it will meter all of, and only, the consumer's consumption of electricity;"point of supply" means the point determined by the Municipality or any duly authorized official of the Municipality at which electricity is supplied to any premises by the Municipality;"premises" means any land or any building or structure above or below ground level and includes any vehicle, aircraft or vessel, any portion of land, situated in the area of jurisdiction of the Municipality:"prepayment meter" means a measuring device that can be programmed to allow the flow of pre-purchased amounts of energy in an electrical circuit through the measuring device in proportion to the amount prepaid by the consumer;"Regulations" means Regulations made in terms of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993 (Act SEC 85 of 1993), as amended;"safety standard" means the Code of Practice for the Wiring of Premises SANS 10142-1, or any revision or substitution thereof, or as incorporated in the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations;"service connection" means all cables and equipment required to connect the supply mains to the electrical installation of the consumer at the point of supply;"service protective device" means any fuse or circuit breaker installed for the purpose of protecting the Municipality’s equipment from overloads or faults occurring on the installation or on the internal service connection;"standby supply" means an alternative electricity supply not normally used by the consumer;"supply mains" means any part of the Municipality’s electricity network;"tariff" means the Municipality’s tariff of charges for the supply of electricity, and the applicable sundry fees for electricity as determined annually in terms of the Tariff By-law of the Municipality; and"the law" means any applicable law, proclamation, ordinance, act of parliament or enactment having force of law;"token" means the essential element of a prepayment metering system used to transfer information from a point of sale for electricity credit to a prepayment meter and vice versa;"voltage" means the root-mean-square value of electrical potential between two conductors.Chapter 1
General conditions of supply
2. Provision of electricity services
3. Supply by agreement
4. Service of notice
5. Compliance with notices
Any person on whom a notice duly issued or given under this by-law is served must, within the time specified in such notice, comply with its terms.6. Application for supply
7. Processing of requests for supply
Applications for the supply of electricity must be processed by the Municipality in accordance with the standard operating procedures thereof, and the supply made available within the periods stipulated in NRS 047 document, or any revision or substitution thereof.8. Wayleaves
9. Statutory servitude
10. Right of admittance to inspect, test or do maintenance work
11. Refusal or failure to give information
No person will refuse or fail to give such information as may be reasonably required of him or her by any duly authorized official of the Municipality or render any false information to any such official regarding any electrical installation work completed or contemplated.12. Refusal of admittance
No person will willfully hinder, obstruct, interfere with or refuse admittance to any duly authorized official of the Municipality in the performance of his duty under this by-law or of any duty connected therewith or relating thereto.13. Improper use
If the consumer uses the electricity for any purpose or deals with the electricity in any manner which the Municipality has reasonable grounds for believing interferes in an improper or unsafe manner or is calculated to interfere in an improper or unsafe manner with the efficient supply of electricity to any other consumer, the Municipality may, with or without notice, disconnect the electricity supply but such supply will be restored as soon as the cause for the disconnection has been permanently remedied or removed. The fee as prescribed by the Municipality for the disconnection and reconnection will be paid by the consumer before the electricity supply is restored, unless it can be shown that the consumer did not use or deal with the electricity in an improper or unsafe manner.14. Electricity tariffs and fees
Copies of charges and fees may be obtained free of charge at the offices of the Municipality.15. Deposits
The Municipality reserves the right to require the consumer to deposit a sum of money as security in payment of any charges which are due or may become due to the Municipality. The amount of the deposit in respect of each electricity installation will be determined by the Municipality, and each such deposit may be increased if the Municipality deems the deposit held to be inadequate. Such deposit will not be regarded as being in payment or part payment of any accounts due for the supply of electricity for the purpose of obtaining any discount provided for in the electricity tariff referred to in this by-law. On cessation of the supply of electricity, the amount of such deposit, free of any interest, less any payments due to the Municipality will be refunded to the consumer.16. Payment of charges
17. Interest on overdue accounts
The Municipality may charge interest on accounts which are not paid by the due date appearing on the account, at an interest rate as approved by the Municipality from time to time.18. Principles for the resale of electricity
19. Right to disconnect supply
20. Non-liability of the Municipality
The Municipality will not be liable for any loss or damage, direct or consequential, suffered or sustained by a consumer as a result of or arising from the cessation, interruption or any other abnormality of the supply of electricity, unless caused by negligence on the part of the Municipality.21. Leakage of electricity
Under no circumstances will any rebate be allowed on the account for electricity supplied and metered in respect of electricity wasted owing to leakage or any other fault in the electrical installation.22. Failure of supply
The Municipality does not undertake to attend to a failure of supply of electricity due to a fault in the electrical installation of the consumer, except when such failure is due to the operation of the service protective device of the Municipality. When any failure of supply of electricity is found to be due to a fault in the electrical installation of the consumer or to the faulty operation of apparatus used in connection therewith, the Municipality will have the right to charge the consumer the fee as prescribed by the Municipality for each restoration of the supply of electricity in addition to the cost of making good or repairing any damage which may have been done to the service main and meter by such fault or faulty operation as aforesaid.23. Seals of the Municipality
The meter, service protective devices and all apparatus belonging to the Municipality will be sealed or locked by a duly authorized official of the Municipality, and no person not being an official of the Municipality duly authorized thereto will in any manner or for any reason whatsoever remove, break, deface, or tamper or interfere with such seals or locks.24. Tampering with service connection or supply mains
25. Protection of Municipality’s supply mains
26. Prevention of tampering with service connection or supply mains
If the Municipality decides that it is necessary or desirable to take special precautions in order to prevent tampering with any portion of the supply mains, service connection or service protective device or meter or metering equipment, the consumer will either supply and install the necessary protection or pay the costs involved where such protection is supplied by the Municipality.27. Unauthorized connections
No person other than a person specifically authorized thereto by the Municipality in writing will directly or indirectly connect, attempt to connect or cause or permit to be connected any electrical installation or part thereof to the supply mains or service connection.28. Unauthorized reconnections
29. Temporary disconnection and reconnection
30. Temporary supplies
It will be a condition of the giving of any temporary supply of electricity, as defined in this by-law, that, if such supply is found to interfere with the efficient and economical supply of electricity to other consumers, the Municipality will have the right, with notice, or under exceptional circumstances without notice, to terminate such temporary supply at any time and, the Municipality will not be liable for any loss or damage occasioned by the consumer by such termination.31. Temporary work
Electrical installations requiring a temporary supply of electricity will not be connected directly or indirectly to the supply mains except with the special permission in writing of the Municipality. Full information as to the reasons for and nature of such temporary work must accompany the application for the aforesaid permission, and the Municipality may refuse such permission or may grant the same upon such terms and conditions as it may appear desirable and necessary.32. Load reduction
33. High, medium and low voltage switchgear and equipment
34. Substation accommodation
35. Wiring diagram and specification
36. Standby supply
No person will be entitled to a standby supply of electricity from the Municipality for any premises having a separate source of electricity supply except with the written consent of the Municipality and subject to such terms and conditions as may be laid down by the Municipality.37. Consumer’s emergency standby supply equipment
38. Circular letters
The Municipality may from time to time issue Circulars detailing the requirements of the Municipality regarding matters not specifically covered in the Regulations or this by-law but which are necessary for the safe, efficient operation and management of the supply of electricity.Chapter 2
Responsibilities of consumers
39. Consumer to erect and maintain electrical installation
Any electrical installation connected or to be connected to the supply mains, and any additions or alterations thereto which may be made from time to time, must be provided and erected and maintained and kept in good order by the consumer at his own expense and in accordance with this by-law and the Regulations.40. Fault in electrical installation
41. Discontinuance of use of supply
In the event of a consumer desiring to discontinue using the electricity supply, he or she must give at least two full working days' notice in writing of such intended discontinuance to the Municipality, failing which he or she will remain liable for all payments due in terms of the tariff for the supply of electricity until the expiration of two full working days after such notice has been given.42. Change of occupier
43. Service apparatus
Chapter 3
Specific conditions of supply
44. Service connection
45. Metering accommodation
Chapter 4
Systems of supply
46. Load requirements
Alternating current supplies must be given as prescribed by the Electricity Act, 1987 (Act 41 of 1987), and in the absence of a quality of supply agreement, as set out in applicable standard specification.47. Load limitations
48. Interference with other persons’ electrical equipment
49. Supplies to motors
Unless otherwise approved by the Municipality or any duly authorized official of the Municipality the rating of motors will be limited as follows:Insulated service cable, size in mm², copper equivalent mm² | Maximum permissible starting currentA | Maximum motor rating in kW | ||
Direct on line (6x full-load current) | Star/Delta (2,5 x full-load current) | Other means (1,5 x full-load current) | ||
kW | kW | kW | ||
16 | 72 | 6 | 13,5 | 23 |
25 | 95 | 7,5 | 18 | 30 |
35 | 115 | 9 | 22 | 36,5 |
50 | 135 | 10 | 25 | 45 |
70 | 165 | 13 | 31 | 55 |
95 | 200 | 16 | 38 | 67 |
120 | 230 | 18 | 46 | 77 |
150 | 260 | 20 | 52 | 87 |