By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
State owned power utility Eskom announced on Monday that it will hand over responsibility for almost all load shedding in Johannesburg to City Power from 6 November.
“The move follows an agreement between the two power utilities whereby City Power will take over load shedding operations for most of its areas which were previously load shed by Eskom, “Eskom and City Power said in a joint statement.
They explained that the agreement will “bring changes to the load shedding blocks, which will affect the schedule in areas load shed by City Power in Johannesburg and Eskom across Gauteng”.
But due to the configuration of the network and technical complexities, Eskom will continue to manage the load shedding of City Power customers in Tshepisong, Lufhereng (Roodepoort), Hoogland, Maroeladal, Morningside, Riverclub, Dainfern, Bloubosrand, Waterford Estate, Riverbend, Kyasands, Bellairspark (Randburg), Halfway House, Halfway Gardens, Vorna Valley, Willowway (Midrand) and Marlboro Transit Camp (Alexandra).
“The two entities will keep exploring technical solutions that will enable City Power to take over the load shedding operations of its remaining customers,” Eskom and City Power said.
City Power controls almost 260 substations in the Johannesburg area.
The revised blocks and schedules will be available on the City Power and Eskom websites on 6 November.
Meanwhile Eskom’s stronger performance over the past few weeks has largely been thanks to lower demand. However, with colder weather hitting the country this week, the demand profile is changing.
Demand during the weeks of suspension have tracked far lower than the typical profile, and also lower than the same periods in 2021 and 2022.
This lower demand has been attributed to both a more conscientious consumer and a major boost from rooftop solar installations, which have doubled this year so far.
Credit is also due to Eskom, which has been improving plant performance. The group’s Energy Availability Factor has improved to over 60% for the first time in 2023 and is currently better than comparable periods in 2021 and 2022.
However, the improved EAF is no panacea, as it is still far below the minimum set by energy regulator Nersa (65%) and the group is still not producing enough power to meet ‘typical’ demand – so it continues to operate on that knife’s edge.