Pretoria - The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality has warned residents of possible load shedding due to the increased demand of electricity as temperatures begin to drop.
The municipality has published on its website a load shedding schedule which consumers can print to see how they will be affected in the event that power supply has to be shed.
“We are advising consumers to use electricity wisely by taking practical steps like switching geysers off during peak hours, switching off lights in rooms that are not occupied, using gas heaters instead of electric ones etc,” said Modiba on Sunday.
Load shedding happens when there is insufficient power station capacity to supply the demand (load) from all the customers; the electricity system could become unstable, possibly resulting in a national black-out. To avoid this, Eskom can either increase supply or reduce demand.
To increase supply, Eskom will run its power stations at maximum available capacity. In addition to the coal and nuclear plant, hydro and open cycle gas turbine stations are used at peak times when the demand is high.
To reduce demand, Eskom will first call on customer contracts that allow for supply to be reduced or interrupted for specific periods and durations. If this is not enough, Eskom is forced to cut supply to all other customers. This could be done through either scheduled or emergency load shedding.
“During scheduled load shedding parts of the network are switched off according to a predetermined schedule, with the impact spread equitably over the customer base. Shedding is predictable and allows for customers to plan accordingly,” Modiba added.
Consumers were advised to treat all network points as being electrically alive in the event of load shedding.
The load shedding schedule can be downloaded from http://www.ekurhuleni.gov.za/business/useful-resources/load-shedding. – SAnews.gov.za
