Joburg residents warned of possible power cuts amid cold snap

The South African Weather Services issued a nationwide warning of a cold snap sweeping across the country this week, with the impact expected over Gauteng, Mpumalanga, and Limpopo.

The weather services warned that cold temperatures are expected from Tuesday morning going into Thursday.

City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena says the cold snap, coupled with higher stages of load shedding, could result in possible overloading of the utility's network.

"This would inadvertently trigger frequent power trips and lengthier periods of outages. However, with cooperation from our customers, we could manage to mitigate the severe impact of heightened pressure on our network.

“We, therefore, appeal to customers to do their part and assist us in lowering electricity consumption by using it sparingly and always switching off all non-essential appliances.

“We urge customers to use electricity prudently to avoid facing similar outages encountered during the winter season," says Mangena.

Mangena says measures have been put in place to offset the impact of extreme weather conditions on the network across all service centres.

"We are, however, relying heavily on responsible electricity consumption from our customers in order to unburden the network and keep lights on.

Our teams will continue to attend to outstanding outages in different parts of the city while guarding against post-load shedding trips.”

Meanwhile, the city emergency services spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi says they remain on high alert, monitoring all 7 regions.

"These extremely cold temperatures will force most of our residents throughout the City of Johannesburg to use heating devices to try and warm themselves in the process, leaving them vulnerable to fire incidents at home. Residents are urged to exercise caution when using heating devices and not to leave them unattended while in use to prevent fire incidents at home during this cold front.”

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