Power utility, Eskom has taken over load shedding in the City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) after it said the municipality failed to implement power cuts to its residents, adding to the severe strain on the national grid.
Effective from Tuesday, July 24, Eskom will directly implement load shedding to CoE customers in all the substations that were previously handed over to the municipality to manage.
Eskom said that the CoE failed to comply by not adhering to its code of practice which required electricity distributor licence holders to reduce load during a declaration of a system emergency.
The power utility said it monitored and conducted analysis over a period of time which revealed the CoE was not reducing the load when the rest of the country was plunged into darkness according to the schedule.
“Eskom has on numerous occasions, engaged the municipality regarding its failure to load shed its customers,” the power utility’s statement read.
“Although Eskom notes the CoE’s technical challenges in executing load shedding, it is left with no choice but to implement load shedding for the CoE as the non-compliance puts further strain on the already constrained national grid.”
It warned that failure to implement load shedding by municipalities, affected the integrity and stability of the grid, which may lead to higher stages of load shedding.
Eskom further appealed to the members of the public to assist in reducing demand by switching off non-essential appliances such as geysers and pool pumps, as this lowers demand and helps in alleviating the pressure on the power system and contributes to lower stages of load shedding.
It also advised that residential and industrial customers from the City of Ekurhuleni to contact the municipality directly for the City’s load shedding schedule or to visit their website on www.ekurhuleni.gov.za as Eskom uses the City’s schedule.
IOL