Durban — Load shedding has been suspended in the eThekwini Municipality for today (Wednesday) only.
That was according to the municipality on Wednesday (today) morning.
In a statement, the municipality said: “To enable our teams to prepare the system for the new schedule which starts tomorrow (Thursday), load shedding has been suspended in eThekwini for today ONLY.”
“This relief was agreed to by the system operator to allow the city to re-configure its automated load shedding system for the new schedule to become effective on May 25, 2023.”
The municipality urged residents to switch off all high-load appliances like geysers, stoves, heaters, air-conditioners and pool pumps during power outages and stagger switching them on once power returns.
“This is especially critical in those suburbs that suffer from frequent overload trips on return of power after load shedding,” the municipality said.
“Everyone is urged to reduce power consumption.”
The municipality also said that details of the new schedule can be found on the City’s website or you can follow the link.
One is required to input their address or suburb in the interactive map to determine their block and the individual schedule for their specific block.
Last week, the municipality announced that after discussions with Eskom, the City’s load shedding schedule is being revised, and a new schedule will be effective from May 25.
EThekwini has been on a reduced level of load shedding since the April 2022 floods owing to the negative impact of the floods on the City’s electrical network. While the City’s infrastructure is not yet repaired to pre-flood levels, the City acknowledges the country’s need to reduce the load to protect the national grid.
eThekwini head of communications Lindiwe Khuzwayo said it has become unavoidable for eThekwini to revert to normal load shedding stages as experienced by the rest of the country.
She said that suburban block allocations were amended to accommodate the required changes, while areas with a large industrial component have been allocated to Blocks 17 to 20 and will be shut off from Stage 7 upwards for a duration of four hours at a time.
Last Friday, the municipality published the amended new load shedding schedule.
The new schedule now has blocks “A” and “B” notation which allows for better load management and control.
“Blocks up to 16 are residential and commercial blocks. They will have two-hour load shedding at a time. Key industrial nodes are in block 17 upwards, and they will have four hours of load shedding at a time,” Khuzwayo said.
Residents can report any electricity-related issues by calling 080 311 1111; via email to [email protected] or via WhatsApp on 076 791 2449.
WhatsApp your views on this story at 071 485 7995.
Daily News