Several parts of Gauteng have been experiencing extended power outages after load shedding.
Areas affected include those serviced by City Power, the City of Ekurhuleni and the City of Tshwane.
Eskom implemented stage 2 load shedding last week, which is set to continue until Thursday.
Earlier on Monday, the City of Ekurhuleni tweeted that it had sent teams to various parts of Kempton Park experiencing a power outage.
In a separate tweet, City Power said it suspected overloading on the electricity system after load shedding had resulted in the outages. City Power urged customers to switch off their electronics during load shedding.
Areas that were reporting outages included Ruimsig and Honeydew – to the west of Johannesburg, and the east at Greenstone Hill and Sebenza.
The City of Tshwane issued a statement indicating that Eskom’s load shedding would “significantly disrupt” the electrical infrastructure of the city. Load shedding can lead to the tripping of electricity grids and power surges due to the overloading of the system, especially when it ends.
“Across South Africa the municipal electrical distribution systems are not designed for load shedding conditions,” said a statement from Tshwane’s councillor Phillip Nel, who is in charge of utility services and regional utility operations and coordination.
Nel explained that during times of load shedding, the turning off and on of electricity to the grid happens up to three times a day – which poses a challenge as the electrical load is concentrated.
“The start-up current of rotating machines like pumps and compressors is up to three times higher during the first few seconds. It is this concentrated load that sometimes is high enough to trip a circuit breaker,” the statement read.
To avoid trips and power failures, the City of Tshwane has urged customers to turn off heaters, geysers and rotating machines before planned reconnection times. It has also called for consumers to wait a while after power is restored before boiling a kettle and resuming cooking. It also asked consumers to switch on geysers and pumps only after power has definitely stabilised.
“By limiting the initial load on the system, we will help protect our own rids from tripping and power outages,” Nel said.
Eskom’s Gauteng division has not yet responded to questions from Fin24.
Source: News24
Link: https://www.news24.com/fin24/economy/eskom/parts-of-gauteng-left-in-the-dark-after-eskoms-load-shedding-20211011
