Abstract
M.Ing.
The importance of maintenance in industry and specifically in the electrical distribution industry has never really been challenged. Maintenance has none of the glamour of other functions such as Marketing or Research, nor has it enjoyed close attention received by other aspects of business such as production and sales. Yet management remains painfully aware of the consequences and cost to the business when the maintenance job is not properly executed. What has, in recent years, exacerbated matters somewhat (in the electrical distribution business) is the reluctance of utility undertakings to invest heavily in a business that is to undergo a vast transformation arising from the creation of the National Electricity Regulator (NER). This will entail the amalgamation of some 400 plus different electricity distributors, by far the most in the guise of municipal undertakings, into a few Regional Distributors and Metro's. During this phase of uncertainty, the electricity departments of many municipalities have been allowed to deteriorate as maintenance and refurbishment funds were moved into other areas that would remain within the control of the municipalities. Eskom also has allowed, to a certain extent, its own distribution infrastructure to deteriorate over the last decade or so due to a focus being placed on the distribution and delivery of electric power to remote and informal settlement areas. Now on the eve of the re-organisation of the electricity supply industry into Regional Distributors and Metro's, the existing network infrastructures are far from being in an ideal situation to cope with the added business constraints to be placed on the supply industry under the scope of Regulation. This dissertation looks at an integrated maintenance strategy for one component of the electricity infrastructure namely, the distribution substation. The Electricity Supply Industry (ESI) is on the brink of vast changes that will reform the industry. Already there are cracks developing in the existing supply infrastructure resulting in power blackouts in several major centres. With the coming of the Regional Electricity Distributors, additional constraints will be placed on the supply industry. It is vital that maintenance management in the ESI start to work proactively in optimising maintenance to achieve a best return on hard gained funding in the coming years.