From May 25, eThekwini will no longer be exempt from lower stages of load shedding. A new schedule will be published in due course, the City said in a statement on Tuesday.
This comes following recent talks between Eskom and the City.
Following the April 2022 floods, a decision was taken to exclude the municipality from load shedding between Stages 1 to 3 due to damaged infrastructure.
eThekwini head of communications, Lindiwe Khuzwayo, said 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,’’ she said.
Khuzwayo said it has become unavoidable for eThekwini to revert to normal load shedding stages as experienced by the rest of the country.
Some areas continue to battle with the damage from the floods, and as a result, there are certain substations that cannot be switched off as that would pose a significant risk to residents and infrastructure.
‘’The City is finalising the amended load shedding schedule, and this will be shared with the public as soon as it is ready,” Khuzwayo said.
“Suburban block allocations have been amended to accommodate required changes. Customers are urged to check their suburbs against their new block numbers when the schedule is published.”
She explained that as per the City’s policy, the protection of some industries would continue under the amended schedule. Industries found in Blocks 17 to 20 will only be shut off from stage 7 for a duration of four hours at a time. This is expected to limit the impact load shedding has on production.
DA eThekwini Caucus leader, Thabani Mthethwa, said residents have been facing extended blackouts lasting days due to the network being compromised.
“eThekwini is not ready for the full implementation of load shedding, and the consequences will be felt across the country,’’ he said.
IOL