Eskom stage 6 load-shedding can lead to prolonged power outages, metro warns
Mayoral Energy Task Team is looking at alternative electricity solutions, including renewable energy and power from independent power producers.
With load-shedding rising to stage 6 this week till further notice this is certain to harm the city’s electricity infrastructure.
This is according to MMC for utilities, regional operations and coordination Themba Fosi.
Fosi said this also affects the ability of city technicians to attend to outages swiftly.
Stage 6 load-shedding means that all Tshwane regions will be affected by rolling blackouts for a minimum of six hours a day.
He said these blackouts will be implemented in two or three tranches a day.
“Our networks were never designed for load-shedding and continuously turning the electricity network on and off has a major impact on the condition of our network infrastructure.”
Fosi said residents should be aware that load-shedding can result in additional outages due to overloading of the network, as well as vandalism and theft of infrastructure.
Furthermore, as the frequency of load-shedding increases, city resources will be severely stretched.
Residents are called to assist the city in managing the power challenges brought on by load-shedding.
Safety measures for residents:
– Switch off all appliances at the wall and unplug chargers. This could save you up to 6% in electricity costs.
– Ensure that energy-intensive appliances, such as geysers, are off during peak times, particularly from 18:00 to 21:00.
– Replace ordinary light bulbs with energy-saving ones.
– Set pool pumps to run for fewer hours.
Fosi told Rekord that city administration continues to pursue long-term intervention to reduce reliance on Eskom and alleviate the burden of load-shedding going forward.
“This includes the work of the mayoral energy task team who are looking at alternative electricity solutions, including renewable energy and power from independent power producers,” he concluded.
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