Eskom seizes control of Ekurhuleni load shedding

Eskom has taken over load shedding in the City of Ekurhuleni (CoE), saying the municipality failed to implement power cuts.

"Eskom has on numerous occasions engaged the municipality regarding its failure to load shed its customers," the utility said in a statement on Wednesday.

Eskom had previously taken over some of the role and left the municipality to load shed substations that had "critical loads". It later handed back all load shedding after the municipality asked to assume responsibility again.

"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 grid," 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."

CoE spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said the City would ask Eskom to not to shed some "critical substations in areas with a high concentration of large industries, because this will not only impact the economy of the region but also threaten jobs".

"We are an economic hub and therefore, we are looking forward to positive engagements with the power utility, bearing in mind the valuable contribution of industry to the economy," Dlamini said. 

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