It is all systems go for the City of Johannesburg to take over loadshedding responsibility from power utility Eskom.
On Monday the municipality assured that the plan, which will exclude industrial and business customers, is gaining momentum.
It announced that through its electricity supply entity City Power, it will implement a new loadshedding schedule that will see all customers without electricity for only two hours at any stage of power cuts.
The switch will also give the municipality more power to decide who gets loadshedded and where while adhering to the megawatts requirements by Eskom in the event the system is heavily strained.
Plan to shield residents from power cuts
In a statement, councillor Jack Sekwaila said the city will strive to protect residents from the impact of loadshedding.
“We applaud City Power led by its CEO Ms Tshifularo Mashava for working hard behind closed doors with Eskom to ensure this is realised,” said Sekwaila.
“For us as the multi-party government of this metro, this talks to one of our plans to ensure that we attract investments while saving and creating jobs.
“The impact of loadshedding on the city’s economy cannot be understated, as such we
should be deliberate in our efforts to cushion every sector from the impact of
loadshedding.”
New loadshedding schedule for the City of Johannesburg, to be implemented from Monday, will seek to achieve the following:
- Eliminate the four-hour duration in all stages and maintain two-hour blackouts up to stage eight;
- Reduce the frequency of loadshedding. In a five-day cycle, a customer will likely be shed only once between stages one and possibly three;
- A customer will not be shed at the same time two or three days in a row.
Mashava said City Power has over the years and months conducted simulations and network reconfiguration to ensure a smooth transition to the new schedule.
“We have already started a few months ago with the gradual exclusion of most of our industrial and large business customers,” Mashava said.
“This exclusion has also been extended to most essential services including health facilities and water, with work underway to ensure more essential services are excluded.”
Engagement cordial and fruitful
Mashava said City Power’s engagement with Eskom throughout the transition has been cordial and fruitful.
She said the entity has committed to ensure that the security of supply and the integrity and stability of the national grid is not compromised by the new changes.
“For us, the greatest benefit is the lessened impact of loadshedding on our customers with this new schedule.”
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the new schedule will cover about 98% of City Power’s customers within the city, with few customers in Tshepisong, Lufhereng (Roodepoort), Hoagland, Maroeladal, Morningside, Riverclub, Dainfern, Bloubosrand, Kyasands, Bellairspark (Randburg), Halfway House and Halfway Gardens.
“Vorna Valley, Willowway [Midrand] and Marlboro Transit Camp [Alexandra] continue to be loadshed by Eskom due to the technical complexities,” said Mangena.
“Work will continue between Eskom and City Power to ensure these areas are also brought into the City Power loadshedding schedule.”
The new loadshedding schedule has been posted on City Power’s website www.citypower.co.za and on social media.
