Load reduction is back! Here are the areas affected [LIST]

While load shedding remains suspended, Eskom has announced the return of load reduction during the morning and evening peak hours.

City Power temporarily suspended the load reduction during the festive season due to a decrease in electricity use.

City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the temporary suspension of load reduction was effective from Friday, 20 December, until the end of January 2025.

“This reduction in demand, combined with seasonal factors such as warm weather conditions, have contributed to lower energy usage levels, allowing us to temporarily lift load reduction that had been implemented to safeguard the electricity grid,” Mangena said.

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Areas affected

According to Eskom, load reduction will be implemented during peak demand periods from 5am to 9am and 5pm to 10pm.

The affected areas in Gauteng include:

• Ga-Rankuwa
• Orange Farm
• Mabopane
• Vereeniging
• Sebokeng
• Cullinan
• Protea Glen, Dobsonville, Meadowlands
• Hartebeesfontein

To see if your area is affected click on, or download, the document below.

Schedule for the rest of this week

What is load reduction?

Load reduction was implemented last June to ease pressure on the grid, protect its transformers, and discourage illegal connections.

“Despite continued public information campaigns to customers about the implications of electricity theft activities, Eskom has no other option but to implement load reduction to protect its assets from repeated failures and explosions, which pose a risk to human lives,” Eskom said of the programme in July 2024.

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Electricity minister vows to tackle load reduction

The Minister of Electricity and Energy Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has addressed the efforts by Eskom and his department in dealing with load reduction.

“We are generating more than enough to meet the demand, these are downstream challenges that we are faced with both on the Eskom and municipal side,” he explained.

Ramokgopa said Eskom’s Group Executive for Distribution Monde Bala was “hard at work with municipalities” to address the outages.

“I am leading those efforts to see how we can address the situation.

“Of course, accompanying this is ageing infrastructure and absence of investments,” he added.

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