Load reduction: More blackouts in Gauteng

Eskom announced on Sunday, 28 June, that it will be implementing load reduction in Soweto, Vaal and West Rand from 5pm to 10pm to avoid network overloading.

In a statement, Eskom said load reduction will be implemented in high density areas that are prone to illegal connections, meter bypasses and vandalism of electricity infrastructure.

The affected areas include:

• Soweto – Dobsonville, Dube, Central Western Jabavu, Klipspruit, Meadowlands East Zones 1-5, Meadowlands West Zones 6 – 10, Mofolo Central, Mofolo North, Mofolo South, Orlando East & Orlando West.
• Vaal — Boitumelo, Evaton Central, Evaton, Small Farms, Evaton West, Sebokeng Units 8,12 -14,16 &19, Orange Farm, Drieziek & Poortje.
• West Rand –  Cosmo City & Zandspruit.

“During the load reduction implementation, customers are urged to switch off all their electrical appliances to avoid power surges when power returns. Failure to do so may lead to transformer trips or failures, and damages to household appliances when supply is restored,” the utility said.

Eskom urged people in the affected areas to not log a fault and manage the load by switching off appliances such as heaters, stoves and geysers, and only use them when absolute necessary in order to stabilise the network at the local level during the load reduction period.

The blackouts continue after Eskom said on 16 June that it had noted a significant rise in network overloading resulting from illegal connections across the high-density areas of the province.

Meanwhile, the utility in Eastern Cape has restored supply to most customers following interruptions due to strong winds.

The utility restored supply to 38,040 customers that were affected by power interruptions in O.R Tambo, Chris Hani, Amathole and Joe Gqabi districts. This was due to the loss of supply was a result of strong winds that blew across the province, severely affecting Eskom networks.

The utility said its technicians will continue attending to the damage and the electricity supply will be restored as soon as possible.

“We urge the remaining affected customers to continue being patient and to treat all electricity appliances as live during this time”.

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