City Power mulls load shedding in south of Joburg
City Power says it may be forced to start implementing load shedding to some areas in the south of Johannesburg to protect the infrastructure and avoid the total shutdown of the Hopefield substation.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena says the network is overloaded due to excessive use and warns that Lawley and Ennerdale could be hit with rotational load shedding on Friday if the issue persists.
“There has been an increase in the number of outages in areas supplied from Hopefield substation caused by overloading and illegal connections,” says Mangena.
“City Power will monitor the load and if customers consumption behavior doesn't change, we will be forced to implement load rotation from today until further notice.”
He adds: “When implemented, the load rotation will be anytime during peak hours from 16H00 until 23H00 every day.”
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City Power has been hit by a spate of cable thefts recently, also placing strain on the utility’s grid.
The power utility has urged residents to use electricity sparingly.
“The situation is critical leaving the substation under severe threat,” Mangena adds.