Increases in the amount of money spent on electricity in recent years has set into motion a major project to collect data and devise a plan to curb the electricity expenditure at Wits.
The Electrical and Information Engineering School (EIE) under the guidance of Professor Willie Cronje, and the Property and Infrastructure Management Division (PIMD) are collaborating in an effort to monitor the use of electricity at Wits.
The project, which was started in 2007, has so far installed 118 meters on the various campuses that will monitor electricity consumption from City Power.
According to Cronje, the project aims to develop a more comprehensive approach to managing the consumption of electricity at Wits which, and is running into the millions per month.
The project has also identified a worrying trend – the electricity bills at the university have grown by 100% over the past two years.
Cronje’s study of the use of electricity at Wits indicates that even over the December break, the University uses a lot more energy than it should.
Benefits of this project are that the university can use these installed meters to verify the City Power bills, faculties and schools can compete among themselves and ultimately save the university a lot of money.
Once the project has collected enough data, the EIE and PIMD can come up with cost-worthy solutions to counter Wits’ high electricity bills.
