City Power to implement load-reduction

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Johannesburg power utility, City Power, has warned Johannesburg residents that it will implement load-reduction to protect the grid from total collapse.

City Power says it will implement load reduction in several areas from tomorrow.

It will run during peak times from 6 am to 10 am and 4 pm to 10 pm in high-density areas.

The utility says the decision follows extensive efforts to encourage customers to use electricity sparingly.

SA National Energy Development Institute’s Sampson Mamphweli says the grid is at risk of collapsing due of illegal connections.

“Before we hit winter, in most cases, you would find that the 10% or 15% reserve in that particular transformer is able to carry the additional load that was not anticipated by City Power when they planned or any electricity distributor. So, when we hit winter, the carrying capacity gets exceeded, mainly because the people who are connected to these transformers start to pull a lot more power based on the fact that they need to use things such as your heaters,” says Mamphweli.

Energy Crisis | Possible prolonged winter power outages:

Last week, the power utility cut the power supply to about eight businesses that have not been paying their massive electricity bills. According to City Power, the targeted businesses together owe over R35 million.

City Power moved from one location to another. It successfully disconnected the power to the Meredale Estates, in the south of Johannesburg, that owes the power utility over R7 million.

According to reports, the entity last paid in 2014.