Reliability worth assessment of electricity consumers: a South African case study

Abstract

This paper discusses the results obtained from a customer survey conducted in Cape Town, South Africa, using in-person interviews with approximately 275 sample business customers. The survey included customer interruption cost estimation questions based on the direct costing method. The results obtained show that customer interruption cost for business customers varies with duration and time of occurrence of power interruptions. The variation was shown to be dependent on customer segment. Furthermore, it revealed that business customers can be grouped in terms of the investment they make to mitigate the impact of power interruptions on their activities, such as the use of backup power supplies.