Johannesburg — City Power Johannesburg announced that it would temporarily suspend load reduction effective Friday 20 December until the end of January 2025.
In a statement, City Power said the decision comes following a significant drop in electricity demand observed during the festive season.
” Over the past few days and weeks, many companies, industries, and other energy-consuming entities have shut down operations for the December holidays. Additionally, numerous residents have travelled away from Johannesburg to spend time with family and friends, resulting in a marked decrease in electricity consumption across the city,” City Power’s Isaac Mangena said.
This demand reduction, 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,” he added.
Mangena said the load reduction programme was initially introduced after critically high electricity levels had put a strain on the network infrastructure.
The actions were necessary to prevent potential overloads as the utility looked to eradicate illegal connections.
#CityPowerUpdates #LoadReduction
City Power is pleased to announce a temporary suspension of load reduction effective from Friday,
20 December 2024 until the end of January 2025. This decision comes as a result of a significant drop in electricity demand observed during the… pic.twitter.com/VEbyr9Jy5y— @CityPowerJhb (@CityPowerJhb) December 20, 2024
“We recognise the difficulties that load reduction has placed on our customers particularly during the peak demand periods, however as mentioned previously, that extreme measure was taken as the last resort to mitigate against possible grid collapse, whose consequences would have been far more damaging,” Mangena said,
Mangena reminded customers to keep using electricity wisely and sparingly to avoid the need to implement load reduction once again, which City Power said could see the reintroduction of load reduction in the new year.
“As we move into the new year, we anticipate that electricity demand will rise again as industries resume operations, schools reopen, and residents return to Johannesburg. Given this expected increase in consumption, we want to inform our customers that load reduction measures may be reintroduced from the end of January 2025,” Mangena added.
He applauded Johannesburg residents for their patience and understanding during a difficult period.
“We appreciate the understanding and cooperation during what has been a challenging period for many of our customers, as we collaboratively worked on maintaining a sustainable supply of electricity,” Mangena concluded.
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
