Eskom to implement 9-hour power outage in these Gauteng areas

Planned maintenance by Eskom will result in a nine-hour power outage in parts of Gauteng.

The power utility will do the maintenance on Tuesday, 14 May.

NINE-HOUR POWER OUTAGE IN GAUTENG

Eskom said there will be electricity supply disruption in Meadowlands, Soweto due to maintenance that will be conducted on the distribution network.

“The power outage will affect customers in Meadowlands zone six to 12 on Tuesday, 14 May from 9:00 – 18:00. The interruption of electricity is necessary to perform essential maintenance on our distribution power lines,” the power utility said.

CUSTOMERS URGED TO TREAT APPLIANCES AS LIVE

In the interest of safety, Eskom said customers should treat all electrical appliances as live at all times during the power outage.

“Eskom apologises for any inconvenience that may be caused by this maintenance. Should circumstances beyond the control of Eskom arise, the planned power outage may not proceed as communicated,” the power utility added.

LOAD SHEDDING REMAINS SUSPENDED

Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has denied that load shedding remains suspended because of the upcoming elections on 29 May.

Surprisingly, the national power utility, Eskom, hasn’t implemented load shedding for over 40 days.

At the weekend, Eskom said load shedding remains suspended due to the continued sustained improvement in generation performance and a 4 400MW reduction in unplanned outages.

The power utility said over the past few weeks, there has been a consistent and significant improvement in curbing unplanned outages – technically known as the Unplanned Capacity Loss Factor (UCLF) – due to the success of the Generation Operational Recovery plan, which commenced in March 2023.

In addition, unplanned outages are on a downward trajectory and are better compared to the same period last year.

Notably, from 26 April to date, unplanned outages have reduced by close to 4 400MW from 15 523MW to 11 036MW.