Councillor sheds light on load-shedding
JOBURG – As load-shedding continues to be implemented, a councillor in the City of Joburg issues some points to take note of with the current load-shedding.
Ward 102 councillor David Potter writes:
Load-shedding is upon us and for how long we do not know. What we should be acutely aware of is that this is a huge frustration for everyone and a worry for business, the economy and the country.
I have taken a decision not to provide proactive updates on load-shedding due to the complexity of the beast but provide below some pertinent points on how you can to manage the various information sources available.
Eskom declares the start and end of load-shedding on their Twitter account. This is usually the first place to find the daily start and end detail of
load-shedding.
City Power then implements Eskom’s request by issuing updates on their website and Twitter account to include which areas/suburbs/blocks will be shed during the day. Various updates during the day are posted on City Power’s Twitter account. Once Eskom declares load-shedding for the day it takes City Power a little while to update their various information streams.
Once Eskom declares that load-shedding has ended for the day, it also takes a little while for City Power to restore power to various substations on their network, depending if those substations are connected to their control system or if operators have to manually restore power.
Load-shedding block/area confusion, City Power from time to time changes the allocation of blocks/areas/substations. Various concerns related to some confusion across the City have been raised with City Power. City Power has committed to updating their website, and it is believed that some block/area changes have been done on their site. Eskom also plays some part in controlling power supply to some incoming network points and at times City Power is reliant on Eskom teams to close their connections to allow City Power to restore on their side.
The effects of load-shedding are huge, the City Power network is aged and unable to cope with the on-off-on-off of the shedding.
As has been seen recently in Randburg, as City Power restores power post-load-shedding, the same area that was off during load-shedding, trips again due to overload. Furthermore, other areas can also trip due to network overload.
Usually, City Power notices this immediately and provided the load is normalised (and not overloaded), they are able to restore power without delay. If the load is too great (say too many irons, heaters, geysers are drawing power), the network will continue to trip as City Power attempts to restore power. City Power will have to wait until the network is normalised to restore power (so encourage your neighbours to switch geysers, etc, off).
What has also been seen is that fuses, cables and substations can blow out when the load is restored.
Further to this, during times of load-shedding, traffic signals go off if they are not connected to the ‘Titanic’ silver power box or if that ‘Titanic’ box has been vandalised (which is often the case).
Upon power restore traffic signals usually reset on their own, but sometimes need to be manually reset.
During load-shedding, it is easier for criminal elements to vandalise and steal parts of the network. Ensure that substations near your house are secured. If they are not secured, then inform City
Power Risk Control on 011 490 7553 and log a ‘Dangerous Situation’ call on citypower.mobi
What to do if your power is still off, long after load-shedding for your suburb/block has ended, log a call with City Power by calling 011 375 5555 Option 2 or log it on citypower.mobi (maybe be proactive and set up an account now already so you have a registered account in case of need).
Usually, City Power will see that the logged fault is posted as a load-shedding restoration and issue resources to check what the fault could be (usually a localised trip, blown fuses, a blown cable or a mini substation). If once you have logged and the issue is still unresolved after some time, escalate to your ward councillor.
What is often noticed is that the City Power dispatcher receives calls logged during load-shedding then groups those calls to ‘load-shedding’ and closes them, and at the same time inadvertently groups legitimate trips that are unrelated to load-shedding.
If you are not using Twitter, I suggest you do even if it is just to keep abreast of the proactive load shedding information supplied by Eskom and City Power.
I trust this information will assist you better manage your day around load shedding. Please share it with your communities, neighbours, family and friends.
