Johannesburg to have 2-hour load-shedding cycles

City Power will do away with four-hour outages as it takes over load-shedding operations in most areas of Johannesburg previously managed by Eskom.

Eskom will hand over load-shedding operations to City Power from November 6.

New schedules for the enforced power cuts will be published soon. Areas load-shed by City Power will be on a two-hour schedule even during stage 5 and higher.

Gauteng has endured four-hour-long outages, which the city has previously criticised due to the effect on businesses.

“The two entities are both committed to ensuring that the security of supply is not compromised, and the obligations as outlined in NRS 048-9:2019 are followed and complied with as per distribution licensing conditions to protect the integrity and stability of the national grid even with the effected changes,” said Eskom.

Due to the configuration of the network and technical complexities, the power utility said City Power customers in Tshepisong, Lufhereng (Roodepoort), Hoogland, Maroeladal, Morningside, Riverclub, Dainfern, Bloubosrand, Waterford Estate, Riverbend, Kyasands, Bellairspark (Randburg), Halfway House, Halfway Gardens, Vorna Valley, Willowway (Midrand), Marlboro Transit Camp (Alexandra) will continue to be load-shed by Eskom.

“The two entities will keep exploring technical solutions that will enable City Power to take over the load-shedding operations of its remaining customers. City Power has its processes, systems, and technical capacity in place to take over the added load-shedding operations as part of the new schedule,” Eskom said.

The power utility said the revised blocks and schedules will be available for City Power and Eskom customers on their websites on November 6. 

“City Power and Eskom will continue to partner and collaborate with the communities and stakeholders to ensure that electricity is delivered to all customers, as we know that electricity remains an essential service,” said the utilities.

TimesLIVE