Eskom working on shortening loadshedding in Joburg to 2 hours

Eskom says it is engaging with City Power to reduce the duration of loadshedding in Johannesburg, The Citizen reports.

This after Johannesburg residents complained of loadshedding that went on for hours while other areas get loadshed for two hours, twice a day.

Resident, Ingrid Semole said: “We get more that 6 hours of loadshedding. Yesterday it was twice. They only remember to switch it back on when we call. All we get from them every time is ‘We didn’t know you guys are still off’.”

Warren Ferguson wrote: I’m still trying to figure out why they put us at 4 hours in the 1st place, maybe back in 2008 when this was only supposed to be a few years. But now? We suffer, our equipment suffers.”

Following complaints from Joburg residents, Eskom said it was fixing the issue.

“Due to the interconnectedness with City Power system, Eskom is engaging with City Power to reduce the duration of loadshedding as only areas in Johannesburg are currently experiencing 4-hour loadshedding.

“We hope to have an update on this change during the course of the week,” said Eskom.

The power utility is currently implementing Stage 2 loadshedding nationwide due to a delay in the return to service of some generation units.

“The return to service of two generation units at Kusile power station that were not available last week has been delayed due to difficulties in restarting the units, which are now expected to return to service starting tomorrow [Monday].

“Despite Eskom’s stringent measures to manage the impact of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic on the operations, we are experiencing some impact on operations, including our suppliers. For example at the Medupi power station we have had 48 positive cases out of a pool of 75 contractors, which has negatively affected our ability to executive work as planned.

“We currently have 6 384MW on planned maintenance, while another 13 181MW of capacity is unavailable due to unplanned maintenance, breakdowns and the outage delays mentioned above. Eskom personnel are working hard to return as much of this capacity to service as soon as possible,” said the power utility on Sunday.