TZANEEN – Greater Tzaneen Municipality (GTM) electricity customers may soon see an end to load reduction, following a recent agreement with Eskom to commission power from another substation.

The Letaba substation, located in the Nkowankowa Industrial Area, is set to reduce the burden on the overloaded Tarentaalrand substation. Eskom plans to migrate its supply line to the Letaba substation starting Thursday, October 30.

Construction of the Letaba substation began in 2016 to minimise power interruptions and provide a more stable electricity supply to the area.

Tarentaalrand capacity drops after transformer failure

Currently, the Tarentaalrand substation supplies power to Tzaneen and surrounding areas, including Nkowankowa, Lenyenye, Deerpark, and others.

However, since Monday, September 15, the municipality has faced a major setback after one of the three transformers at the Tarentaalrand substation failed.

This transformer will not be repaired any time soon due to the size and work that needs to be carried out, as it is currently in Johannesburg, said Neville Ndlala, GTM communications and marketing services manager.

He explained to the Herald that this failure reduced the substation’s total capacity from 180 MVA to 120 MVA. With the municipality’s peak load demand at 145 MVA, there is now a shortfall of 25 MVA.

Demand exceeds available supply, so to prevent further damage to the electricity network, the municipality has had to reintroduce load rotation.

Adding to the challenge, the Gravelotte substation, which could have supplemented the power supply, also has a broken transformer.

Load reduction to ease gradually after migration

Once Eskom completes the migration to the Letaba substation, it will be able to supply customers in Nkowankowa, Lenyenye, and surrounding areas, significantly easing the load on Tarentaalrand.

This relief will allow areas like Tzaneen to avoid load reduction. However, Ndlala warned that areas already experiencing load reduction, such as Nkowankowa Section A, will continue to experience it during this period.

The current load rotation schedule, which began on September 18, will remain in place. Eskom and the municipality will implement load reduction for two hours at a time in the mornings, from 07:00 to 09:00, and again from 17:00 to 19:00.

Residents and businesses are encouraged to familiarise themselves with the schedule, which will be available on the GTM website, Facebook page, and WhatsApp channel.