Street lights burn all day

While people across the country are constantly reminded to save electricity to avoid blackouts, the city's street lights in various suburbs can often be seen burning 24 hours a day, according to some residents.

July 30, 2015

Riana Joubert 1 minute read

Street lights in Ladanna burn during the day.

POLOKWANE – While people across the country are constantly reminded to save electricity to avoid blackouts, the city’s street lights in various suburbs can often be seen burning 24 hours a day, according to some residents.

One resident, Kobus Breedt, said his main concern was that the lights in Ladanna had been burning night and day for almost a month now. He questioned who was paying for this wasted electricity. He also wanted to know why load shedding continued even though there was electricity available to waste in this way.

Joseph Nkomo, a resident of Flora Park, said on the daily news, electricity bulletins encouraged South Africans to decrease their energy usage during peak hours between 17:00 and 21:00.

“This seems to mean nothing to the municipality, which is responsible for these street lights constantly burning,” Nkomo said. He said he had contacted the municipality on countless occasions when the street lights in Flora Park burned all day.

Nkomo said what bothered him the most was the fact that there were many households in and around Polokwane that did not even have access to electricity, while the municipality wasted electricity daily. 49M is an Eskom initiative endorsed by government and business partners, spurring an urgent need for 49 million South Africans to embrace energy saving as a national culture and join the global journey towards a sustainable future, according to Eskom’s website.

According to 49M, saving electricity can be done in four simple steps over peak hours:

• Switch off all geysers and pool pumps during peak times.

• Switch off all non-essential lighting.

• Dress warmly and find alternatives to electrical heaters.

• Insulate ceilings to keep the heat in and invest in thermostatically controlled heaters.

Municipal spokesperson, Tidimalo Chuene, said the street lights were only meant to stay on between sunset and sunrise to save electricity and uphold a safer environment. “We are making a conscious effort to fix this matter as soon as possible,” she said.