‘We’re an economic hub’ – Ekurhuleni wants Eskom not to shed ‘some critical substations’

The City of Ekurhuleni’s noncompliance with Eskom’s load shedding schedule – opting not to cut the power to residents during system emergencies – was a selfish move, endangered the grid and deprived the rest of the country of electricity, according to a leading energy expert.

Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena yesterday could not comment on the impact on the grid of Ekurhuleni’s noncompliance, which led to the power utility taking control of the city’s load shedding.

‘Irresponsible’

Energy analyst Pieter Jordaan, who slammed Ekurhuleni as “irresponsible”, said Eskom should have acted long ago against noncompliance. Eskom is likely to react similarly to other municipalities failing to comply with load shedding.

ALSO READ: Eskom takes control of Ekurhuleni’s load shedding after metro failed to comply

Eskom announced it would directly cut power to Ekurhuleni customers and all substations previously handed over to the municipality to manage. This was after the city failed to comply with the code of practice requiring electricity distributor licence holders to reduce the load during a system emergency.

Eskom said: “The decision to take over load shedding in Ekurhuleni follows monitoring and analysis conducted by Eskom which indicates the city is not reducing the load as per NRS 048- 9:2019.

“Eskom has on numerous occasions engaged the municipality regarding its failure to load shed its customers.”

At the time, Ekurhuleni could only cut power to the substations feeding critical loads.

“Subsequently, upon the city’s request, Eskom handed over the implementation of load shedding of all Ekurhuleni customers to the municipality,” said Eskom.

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Although Eskom noted Ekurhuleni’s technical challenges in executing load shedding, it said the city’s noncompliance compromised the national grid. It warned municipalities which failed to adhere to the electricity rationing schedules that this impacted the grid’s integrity and stability, leading to higher stages of load shedding.

Unfilled vacancies

Simon Lapping, Democratic Alliance Ekurhuleni spokesperson on energy, said: “The fact that the metro could not manage the load shedding schedule, because they are understaffed, meant that Eskom had to take over the obligation.

“Presently there are about 330 unfilled, funded vacancies in the energy department. I am surprised that the mayor and the current executive of the city have been silent.

“The statement that the city released on Tuesday was nothing but a subtle acknowledgement of its incompetence.

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“Citizens and companies in Ekurhuleni have to deal with the city wiping its proverbial derriere with the needs of its constituency and now, it seems as if it did the same to Eskom, during a national emergency.

“Ekurhuleni’s executive is akin to a dog chasing its tail. Loads of energy spent, along with taxpayer funds, in a tremendous effort to go absolutely nowhere.”

Ekurhuleni negotiations with Eskom

The City of Ekurhuleni said it would be asking Eskom not to shed some critical substations in areas with a high concentration of large industries, because this would not only impact the economy of the region, but also threatens jobs.

Metro spokesperson Zweli Dlamini added: “We are an economic hub and, therefore, we are looking forward to positive engagements with the power utility, bearing in mind the valuable contribution of industry to the economy.”

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He said the city would be proposing load curtailment during negotiations with Eskom.

“Load curtailment is the load reduction obtained from customers who can reduce demand on instruction.

“This also means that in the event of an emergency declaration, industrial customers must be able to reduce their load by a certain percentage.”

Written by Brian Sokutu and Hein Kaiser

– brians@ citizen.co.za