MBOMBELA – The local municipality stated this week that although load-shedding is unfair, it is necessary. Mr Joseph Ngala, spokesman for Mbombela Local Municipality, responded following remarks by irate residents in Steiltes who feel that the power of their neighbours in West Acres and Stonehenge are cut in the day when they don’t feel the effect as much, since they are at work.
Ngala explained that there was a lot of planning and decision making involved, such as the amount of load to be shed at a particular time needed by Eskom to ease the pressure on the grid. “Remember that the substations that are affected include the CBD and Riverside Industrial Park where there are large power users such as big businesses. This is taken into consideration when we compile the schedule,” said Ngala. He added that they could not please everybody in the manner in which they implement load-shedding. “Consumers can make certain assumptions as to what is fair or unfair to certain people,” he said.
Not only has load-shedding affected businesses, but according to Mr Nico Grobler, operational manager of Hi-Tech Security Nelspruit, the rate of burglaries will increase if load-shedding is implemented as regularly as it is now. Although the number of housebreakings has decreased since December from 39 a week to 14, he is concerned about the future. “The backup battery of an alarm system gets damaged when the power goes out,” Grobler explained. He also posed the question as to whether the Lowveld was prepared for a total blackout.
Mr Markus Vogel, operations manager of J&M Security, fears damage to their alarm systems in the future too. They also can’t blame load-shedding at this stage, but they also feel that things look grim at the moment.
“As it is, everybody is hot under the collar about the current situation, but have to endure it and bear the brunt,” Ngala added. Eskom said this week that load-shedding should be regarded as a controlled and planned method to ensure that the power system is protected from a total blackout. Stage one was implemented again this week due to a shortage of generation capacity as several units are currently on unplanned outages due to technical faults.
Eskom still calls on its consumers to reduce the load on the electricity grid by switching off geysers, air conditioners, pool pumps and all non-essential appliances throughout the day, which will reduce electricity demand. Lowvelders can expect load-shedding this weekend and next week as the power system remains severely constrained.
