Beginning next week, City Power will take over the management of load shedding in Johannesburg under an agreement with Eskom. The city’s power utility has pledged to restrict load shedding slots to a maximum of two hours, even during Stages 5 and above, in contrast to Eskom’s current slots of up to four hours.
Isaac Mangena, a spokesperson for City Power, emphasized that extended load shedding slots are unsustainable and have forced numerous local businesses to shutter their operations. This move aims to prevent job losses by enhancing load shedding management.
Eskom recently announced that load shedding operations will transition to City Power, effective November 6, bringing changes to load shedding blocks and schedules in Johannesburg and other areas of Gauteng. While City Power intends to exempt certain larger companies, particularly industrial firms, from load shedding by reconfiguring the network, some areas, such as Tshepisong, Lufhereng (Roodepoort), and others, will continue to be managed by Eskom due to network configuration and technical complexities.
Both entities are committed to exploring technical solutions that would eventually allow City Power to assume load shedding operations for the remainder of its customers. City Power has jurisdiction over nearly 260 substations in the Johannesburg area.
This transition follows a prior shift of load shedding control from the City of Ekurhuleni to Eskom earlier this year, after the municipality failed to implement power cuts to protect significant local industries. Eskom returned the load shedding function to the City in July.