Eskom blames non-disclosure of backyard dwellers for system overload

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Eskom says most transformers are overloaded because some customers do not indicate when they have backyard dwellers, as this results in an increase in their energy consumption.

The power utility says when consumption surpasses what has been provided in different households, transformers end up being overloaded.

Eskom has decided to implement load reduction to avoid overloading in high density areas.

Daphne Mokwena, Eskom spokesperson, says they are also faced with a problem of some customers bypassing meters.

“Because we do place every year, we make plans or we even have a 20 year master plan. But if we’ve got an influx of people coming in and we don’t know about them like in your yard, we don’t know what is happening in your yard. Then we have a problem, because then the transformer that I’ve designed for 20 people, all of a sudden we’ve got 60 people for example.”

“Then now I’ve got a problem because that transformer can only handle 20 people and cannot handle the 60 or the 40 that I do not know of, that I didn’t design for and this is where now the problem comes in,” Mokwena adds.

Eskom implements load reduction: Daphne Mokwena