Kibler and Alveda Park residents protest against electricity load reduction
A protest against electricity load reduction took place in Kibler Park, as residents ask why only their area is affected.
The residents of Kibler and Alveda Park held a peaceful protest on the R82 road on June 24.
The community held this protest to create awareness about the electricity load reduction carried out by Johannesburg City Power (CP) in the area. Load reduction has continued from June 2 and is ongoing. Therefore, the residents organised a protest to get answers from CP.
A resident of Kibler Park said, “We have been under load reduction since the day after the elections. CP did not say why this area was chosen. We have organised this protest to get CP management to address us and give us an understanding of why only those under the Eikenhof substation are being affected,” she continued.
City of Johannesburg (CoJ) Ward 125 Matsobane Sekhu attended the protest where he and community members outlined that CP representatives should address residents on how load reduction works and the criteria for an area to get it.
“I received notifications from CP that load reduction will take place as power systems are under pressure. The community is, therefore, disgruntled about this, so I wrote a letter to CP asking them to explain what load reduction is and what the criteria were regarding how areas are chosen,” said the councillor.
“The only feedback I received was that they focus on densely populated and high-usage areas that are usually chosen. Many areas fit that description and also illegal connections that put the power systems under strain,” he concluded.
