Aircon off on the hottest days

The Australian September 1, 2004
By Michael Bachelard

South Australia's energy regulator wants to give power companies the ability to switch off people's home airconditioners by remote control on 40C-plus days to avoid massive surges in demand for electricity.

Essential Services Commission chairman Lew Owens told The Australian yesterday the technology existed to install switches in homes and businesses that would allow electricity companies to turn off power-hungry airconditioners and swimming pool pumps, or "cycle" them off for 15 minutes every hour. 

He has recommended that the extraordinary measure be trialed in a pilot program of 2000 South Australian homes to see if it will reduce the state's massive demand for power on very hot days. 

Initially, the scheme would be voluntary. Households would pay a cheaper tariff in return for having the off-switch installed. 

About 90 per cent of homes in Victoria and South Australia have airconditioners - the highest rate in the country. 

Steep demand "peaks" in Victoria and South Australia are the highest in the country and perhaps the world, and the national electricity market manager, NEMMCO, announced recently that the two states faced a shortfall of power as early as this summer. 

Mr Owens said the "hundreds of millions of dollars" needed to build infrastructure to cope with just a few hot days a year has helped drive up power costs in his state which, between January and March, are up to 60 per cent higher than in the rest of Australia.