Municipality respond to load shedding woes

THE eThekwini municipality have responded to Berea Mail's article last week, about load shedding woes faced by local businessmen on Florida Road.

“The load shedding schedules available in the eThekwini Municipality’s website is correct and is the latest one that is in force. In terms of load shedding per block, the schedule is always followed, however there are technical difficulties that can result is block mismatches and customers finding their power not going off at the stated time,” said eThekwini Municipality’s Communications Head, Tozi Mthethwa.

Mthethwa there are a few causes for the technical difficulties:

The network is designed to have different connections to every substation. This ensures that under fault conditions, an alternate supply can be used to provide electricity to the affected substation while the fault is being fixed. The alternate supply is generally from a neighbouring area. Due to this dual connection, it allows for electricity to be speedily restored under fault conditions however, this creates difficulty in block allocations during load shedding.

According to Mthethwa, a customer can technically receive their electricity from the substation within their area or the neighbouring area. Due to the dynamic nature of the electricity system, supply arrangements will change based on faults, maintenance programmes etc. This results in block changes for an area. Every effort is being made to ensure that supplies are restored to their normal configuration preventing block changes and confusion.

“The Municipality’s team has investigated over 20 specific claims of load shedding not following the published schedule and none of the claims were valid.

“The perception that the City is not following the published schedule “a lot of the time” is not correct,” she added.

Call centre agents on the number 08013131111, are only equipped to log faults and cannot assist residents in establishing which block they fall under in the load shedding grid. Only municipal technicians have access to the Geographic Information System and customers can email CustoCare@elec.durban.gov.za with their name, home address, and contact details.