EDITOR – The latest load shedding schedule is grossly unfair to residents of Hillcrest where I live, compared to other areas close by. Here is the stage two load shedding schedule (the most common) for Hillcrest, compared to Westville: Hillcrest: Monday – 4am to 6am and 8pm to 10pm, Tuesday – 8pm to 10pm, Wednesday – 6am to 8am and 10pm to midnight, Thursday – 6am to 8am, Friday – 2am to 4am and 6pm to 8pm, Saturday – 6pm to 8pm, Sunday – 2pm to 4pm.
You will see that Hillcrest residents have ‘bad’ days on Monday and Tuesday (just the time we want to relax, watch TV, catch up on news, et cetera). Then Friday and Saturday, which completely upsets ideas of dinner, having friends for dinner, children doing homework, et cetera, and finally on Sunday (mid afternoon – no TV sport). I will not again be able to watch the European season of F1 and MotoGP races and other sport.
In all I will experience five bad days a week – actually seven bad days if you take into account the inconvenient early morning outages on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Compare this schedule to Westville: Monday – 10am to noon, Tuesday – 2am to 4am and 10pm to midnight, Wednesday – noon to 2pm, Thursday – midnight to 2am and noon to 2pm, Friday – 2pm to 4pm, Saturday – 4am to 6am and 2pm to 4pm, Sunday – 10pm to midnight.
Personally, I would be delighted to live under this load shedding schedule with, as far as I am concerned , no ‘bad’ or inconvenient days at all. I mean the residents of Westville and other areas that have a ‘convenient’ load shedding schedule no harm. But the schedule as drawn up seems to inconvenience certain areas greatly while other areas have a comparative easy time.
I think that the powers that be should have a look at how the schedule impacts on different areas.
Trevor Hodgson
Hillcrest
