Photo by: Creamer Media
State-owned utility Eskom will resume direct loadshedding for City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) customers after the city's repeated failure to adhere to its obligations in this regard.
Eskom said in a statement on February 29 that it would take over the role of loadshedding for the CoE's customers from March 1.
The recurrence of Eskom taking over loadshedding in Ekurhuleni follows the close monitoring and analysis conducted by the power utility, which shows that the CoE does not reduce the load as required.
Eskom has brought this issue to the attention of the city on several occasions in the past. In those cases, the utility also took back the role of directly loadshedding CoE customers. The CoE then requested that Eskom hand back the implementation of loadshedding to the municipality with a commitment that it would honour its obligations.
Eskom said that, while it appreciated the CoE's technical limitations in executing loadshedding properly, the utility had been left with little option but to implement loadshedding on behalf of the CoE as the noncompliance puts further strain on the already stretched national grid.
Eskom said the failure to implement loadshedding when required by all electricity distributors, including municipalities, undermined the integrity and stability of the grid, which may lead to higher stages of loadshedding.