Cape Town – Eskom says it has taken control of load shedding in the City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) as the municipality failed to carry out the necessary power cuts.
“Eskom has on numerous occasions engaged the municipality regarding its failure to load shed its customers,” the utility said in a statement on Wednesday.
The power utility had previously allowed the municipality to handle load shedding for certain substations with critical loads, but the municipality later requested Eskom to take back the responsibility.
“Although Eskom notes the CoE’s technical challenges in executing load shedding, it is left with no choice but to implement load shedding for the CoE as the non-compliance puts further strain on the already constrained grid.
“Failure to implement load shedding by municipalities affects the integrity and stability of the grid, which may lead to higher stages of load shedding,” Eskom said.
Eskom takes over non-complying City of Ekurhuleni’s loadshedding pic.twitter.com/BfGAe9R4Vm
— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) July 26, 2023
In response, the CoE has requested Eskom to exclude certain critical substations in areas with a significant concentration of large industries from load shedding.
The CoE is concerned that such power cuts could negatively impact the regional economy and put jobs at risk.
They seek positive engagements with Eskom, considering the valuable contribution of industries to the local economy.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
