Planned electericity outage bombshell
METRO - An emergency load shedding schedule across large parts of Johannesburg is set to interrupt residents' lives for the entire week.
Your electricity bill is not unpaid, Eskom is implementing emergency load shedding from 2 November throughout the week.
This was reported on the electricity utility’s website, just hours prior to the the planned outage.
“The power system is projected to be severely constrained tomorrow (02 Sunday, November 2014) and the rest of the week due to the loss of the 1 800MW at the Majuba Power Station, a situation caused by damage to the central coast storage silo this afternoon (01 November)” the utility said.
As a result, stage one of rotational load shedding is in effect as from 8am until 10pm, according to the published load shedding schedules available at https://loadshedding.eskom.co.za/ for Eskom customers.
A silo which houses over 10 000 tons of coal cracked on 1 November, impacting coal supplies to all six units at the power station resulting in the power station operating at reduced capacity of 1 300MW, Eskom reported.
City Power said the following areas will be affected from 2pm:
Alvida, Amalagam, Auckland Park, Bosmont, Braamfontein, Werf, Braampark, Brixton, Burgersdorp, CBD, City and Suburban, City West, Claremeont, Comptonville, Coronationville, Croesus, Crown, Edgardale, Olifansvlei Farm, Ferreirasdorp, Fordsburg, Greymont, Grosvener, Helen Joseph Hospital, Homestead Park, Industria, Jan Hofmeyer, Joubert Park, Kilbler Park, Longdale, Loughrin, Maraisburg, Marshallstown, Mayfair and Mayfair West, Mayfield Park, Mellville, Micor, Milpark, Misgund, Montclare, Naturena, New Canada, Newclare, Newtown, Northcliff West, Paarlshoop, Pageview, Park Central, Parktown West, Patlynn, UJ,Richmond, Rispark, Riverlea, Rossmore, RWB Eikenhof, SABC, Salisbury Claims, Selby, South Fork, Sunnyside, Village Deep, Village Main, Vredesdorp, Wemmer, Westbury, Willowdene, Wits East Campus and Wits West Campus.
According to City Power, all these areas will be restored by 6.30pm tonight.
“We ask all our customers to use electricity sparingly by switching off non essential appliances and equipment during peak hours,” said City Power’s director of engineering operations Louis Pieterse.
Customers are urged to switch off appliances and equipment during outages to avoid damages during the power restoration.
City Power has apologised for the inconvenience caused and said customers will be kept updated on the situation through its website www.citypower.co.za and twitter @CityPowerjhb.
Ward 86 councilor Steve Kotze warned “It’s going to be a difficult week. Prepare yourselves.”
Ward 87 councillor Amanda Forsythe also warned residents about the impending dark week.
“Please be prepared with your generators, UPSs, candles, gas lamps/stoves, etc. Do not report these outages to City Power unless they last much longer than the expected times,” Forsythe advised.
“Most of our ward falls into Blocks six and eight. Block six will be without power from 2pm to 6pm on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. [This includes] Melville and Parktown West. Our friends in Auckland Park and Brixton (Ward 69) will also be on this list,” she said.
“Block eight will be without power from 6pm to 10pm on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Block eight includes Forest Town, Greenside, Greenside East, Parkview and Westcliff,” Forsythe added.
