City of Ekurhuleni accused of failing to implement load shedding

Eskom says it will now directly implement load shedding to City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) customers in all the substations that were previously handed over to the municipality to manage. 

According to the power utility  the City of Ekurhuleni failed to comply by not adhering to the NRS 048-9:2019 code of practice which requires electricity distributor licence holders to reduce load during a declaration of a system emergency. 

ESKOM TO DIRECTLY IMPLEMENT LOAD SHEDDING IN EKURHULENI 

The power utility said the decision to take over load shedding in Ekurhuleni follows monitoring and analysis conducted by Eskom which indicate that the municipality is not reducing the load as per NRS 048-9:2019. 

ALSO READ: Load shedding LIVE updates: Here is the updated schedule for WEDNESDAY

“Eskom has on numerous occasions engaged the municipality regarding its failure to load shed its customers. The power utility has taken over this role of load shedding the CoE’s customers following its contravention of the requirements of the standard in the past. 

“At the time, the CoE was only permitted to load shed all the substations that feed critical loads. Subsequently, upon the city’s request, Eskom handed over the implementation of loadshedding of all the customers to the municipality. Although Eskom notes the CoE’s technical challenges in executing load shedding, it is left with no choice but to implement load shedding for the CoE as the non-compliance puts further strain on the already constrained national grid,” the power utility said. 

Furthermore, Eskom said failure to implement load shedding by municipalities affects the integrity and stability of the grid, which may lead to higher stages of load shedding.

ALSO READ: Tshwane: Here’s the updated load shedding schedule for Wednesday

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ARTICLES BY NOKWANDA NCWANE