Power Outages Returning to Joburg Starting Monday

Joburg power cuts started today. City Power has started enforcing load reduction in Johannesburg areas with exceedingly high electricity usage levels.
This is to protect the country’s grid from collapsing. The development comes after warnings to frugally use the electricity in some areas.

City Power said despite numerous warnings, the residents have not used electricity sparingly and are putting a strain on its network.  

Joburg Power Cuts Due To High Electricity Usage Levels

The utility says it will embark on stringent measures to protect the grid from total collapse, as electricity consumption in the City of Johannesburg has reached critical levels.

City Power said in a statement, “These measures include intensifying the implementation of ripple relay systems. It will ensure cutting electricity to geysers in homes where the systems are under threat. This reduces load at stations with higher consumption, and intensifies cut-off operations against illegal connections.”

City Power will remotely switch off the customer geyser once they reach high consumption levels.”

Joburg Power Implements Ripple Relays For Load Management

Part of its measures to lighten the load on the grid through load reduction include the installation of ripple relays. According to the utility company, a ripple receiver is part of a load management system used to control the electricity supply to geysers during peak hours. 

However, City Power highlighted that the load reduction will not exceed two-and-a-half hours per block. It said the plan will be executed during peak hours, in the mornings between 4 am to 10 am and the evenings between 4 pm and 10 pm. 

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The city utility will also implement load limiting through smart meters in July. This is to further assist clients in conserving energy without switching it off completely.

Conclusion

The development is the result of a huge increase in the average evening peak, with some areas rising by up to 110%.

The utility company said, “Our network is now at critical levels due to continuous demand. This is higher than the electricity equipment can withstand. As a result, load reduction will be implemented in areas where the load exceeds the designated maximum capacity of our transformers. The same will be done with our transmission lines, or cables.”

City Power has curated a load reduction schedule, which is available on its website (PDF). The utility company encouraged Johannesburg residents to go through the pdf to determine if and how they are affected.