City Power is urging consumers to use power sparingly while Eskom solves the electricity distribution issues

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Joburg plans for load shedding As Eskom works to restore a consistent power distribution countrywide, Johannesburg has plans to reduce the impact on the local electricity supply. January 19, 2007 By Anish Abraham RESIDENTS are being urged to conserve electricity as national power utility Eskom tackles problems with its countrywide distribution. The current power supply disruptions experienced throughout Johannesburg on 18 January were due to generation shortages on the side of Eskom, according to the City, and residents are urged to switch off all non-essential equipment. The latest power outages are outside the control of the City or City Power, said Ros Greeff, the City's portfolio head for infrastructure and services. Eskom generates the country's electricity, while City Power is the metro's utility that distributes the power to users around Johannesburg. The City was concerned about the impact the outages have had on business activities, community life and traffic flow, according to the mayoral committee member. "We also want to apologise to all our customers who have been inconvenienced by the disruptions. "We also want to call on residents and businesses to help us conserve power by switching off equipment such as geysers, air-conditioning and swimming pool pumps," said Greeff. Load shedding On Thursday, some 400 megawatts was shed, but the expectations are that this volume will be reduced as Eskom's generating capacity improves, said Greeff. Load shedding is done on a rotational basis, and the City will try its utmost to ensure that residents already affected by the outages will not be inconvenienced again, though that also depends on how much electricity Johannesburg is required to shed. To assist residents and ensure the impact is reduced, City Power has developed a plan to shed load when Eskom requires, according to Louis Pieterse, the general manager for supply availability at City Power. "We have a generic load shedding plan, which we'll follow." "As and when Eskom requires us to, we'll shed [the load] according to that rotational plan." However, much depended on Eskom, he added. "For instance, when Eskom comes to us at short notice saying that they require 100 megawatts, we will act on that whilst striving to minimise the inconvenience to our customers." Permission to use web site material Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as: Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website (www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency (www.joburg.org.za)"; If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original article on this website; The name of the article's author is acknowledged; The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill in this brief online form). Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 Print this Page E-mail this article to a friend Help using Joburg.org.za