Electricity blackouts even affected many traffic lights across the city

RELATED LINKS: Electricity supply FOR more information on how and where to pay your electricity bill, click here. Safety tips FOR information on the safe use of electricity, click here. Prepare now for cold months ahead THE emergency management services has taken note of the cooler mornings and has warned Joburgers about safety hazards. Read more

Expect rotating power outages Eskom is undertaking a series of load shedding to cope with the demand for power during the present cold and wet weather. Outages should not last for more than two hours. October 12, 2007 By Tabisa Mntengwana JOBURG, along with the rest of the country, is being affected by electricity blackouts. The temporary power shortages are caused by load shedding, which is done by Eskom when there is insufficient electricity supply to meet demand; as a result, there are power outages in specific areas. Load shedding is a controlled way of rotating the available power between all its customers. Shortages on the electricity system unbalance the network, which can cause it to collapse. By rotating the load in a planned and controlled manner, the system remains stable, claims the utility. "Load shedding is caused by bad weather, wet coal, planned maintenance and unplanned outages," said Moses Mamba, Eskom's senior communications adviser. The national electricity supplier has appealed to customers to use electricity sparingly in order to reduce the demand for power and "to assist in minimising load shedding", according to a press release. It has advised businesses to switch off all non-essential lightning and office equipment during the day and overnight. At home, people have been encouraged to turn off lights in unoccupied rooms, switch off geysers when they return from work and switch them on again late at night, switch off appliances that are in stand-by mode and limit the use of pool pumps. "The switch off in certain areas will only last for two hours and people are advised not to panic," Mamba explained. On its website, Eskom says that load shedding is a last resort, explaining that it is an effective way to avoid blackouts. "Load shedding schedules are drawn up to ensure that a few areas do not bear the brunt of the shortages. By spreading the impact, affected areas are not interrupted for more than two hours at a time, and in most cases customers can be informed of interruptions in advance." For more information and other electrical problems, contact Eskom on 0860 037 566 or visit the Eskom website, where there is a full load shedding schedule. 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