City Power customers cushioned from load-shedding blues thanks to extra capacity

31 January 2020 - 17:10 By ERNEST MABUZA
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There is light at the end of the tunnel for City Power customers in Johannesburg over the weekend.
There is light at the end of the tunnel for City Power customers in Johannesburg over the weekend.
Image: 123RF/choneschones

Johannesburg City Power customers may be spared from the full impact of stage 2 load-shedding at the weekend because the municipal entity has extra capacity available.

Eskom is set to continue with stage 2 rolling blackouts until 6am on Monday.

“City Power receives about 90% of its electricity from Eskom, with 10% coming from Kelvin Power Station in the east of Johannesburg,” spokesperson Isaac Mangena said on Friday.

He said the extra capacity that City Power enjoyed came from various sources including the use of ripple relays, load-limiting through smart meters and Kelvin Power Station.

“It is for this reason City Power was able to cushion our customers against stage 2 load-shedding.”

Mangena said ripple relay and load-limiting technologies were installed in certain areas and allowed City Power to remotely switch off devices that chew electricity, such as geysers, to help save electricity.

“City Power customers should not panic and we will update when this situation changes.  We continue to urge our customers to use electricity sparingly as the system remains under pressure.”


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