Dinner by candlelight conversations often get heated when a guest boasts that they are exempt from load shedding.<\/p>\n
Possible reasons for this included living near President Jacob Zuma or other powerful leaders.<\/p>\n
But this week, the City of Cape Town shed light on this heavy load for burdened consumers.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs far as exclusions from load shedding are concerned, the city is guided by what is referred to as regulation NRS048-9,\u201d said mayoral committee member for utility services, Ernest Sonnenberg.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the national standard for load shedding and deals with the appropriate treatment of critical loads and the essential load requirements of various customers.\u201d<\/p>\n
NRS048-9 identifies the following criteria for the implementation of load shedding: the safety of people, the environment, the potential damage to plants associated with a critical national product (for example wastewater treatment works) and technical constraints on executing load shedding and curtailment or restoration.<\/p>\n
\u201cBased on these criteria and where possible, the city does exclude major hospitals, major central business districts and areas where there are major crowds gathered for specific events,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAreas that have been previously excluded are the Table Mountain cable car, as well as parts of the central business districts across the city and major hospitals.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome residents and businesses may be excluded from load shedding if their properties share a dedicated circuit with the above-mentioned exclusions.\u201d<\/p>\n
While some residents are spared load shedding, others have complained that their lights don\u2019t come back on when they\u2019re scheduled to.<\/p>\n
Eskom is often blamed for irregularities in load shedding, but it is in fact the municipalities\u2019 responsibility to manage their own schedules.<\/p>\n
Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe told Fin24 that some municipalities used automated technology to manage the process, while others use manual switches that need turning on and off.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the technician is stuck in traffic and needs to get to the switchboard, perhaps there might be a delay,\u201d he said, using a hypothetical example.<\/p>\n
\u201cNuisance tripping\u201d has resulted in certain areas experiencing longer load shedding cuts than they should, according to Sonnenberg.<\/p>\n
The City of Cape Town implements load shedding according to the schedule on its website when it is instructed to do so by Eskom, said Sonnenberg.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe restoration of power sometimes results in what is described as \u2018nuisance tripping\u2019, which often goes unreported due to the assumption that the outage is due to load shedding,\u201d he told Fin24.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis could also lead to some customers being under the impression that they are being disproportionately affected.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cConsumers can mitigate against this by switching off appliances (including geysers, air conditioners and pool pumps) prior to load shedding and perhaps leaving on only a light or two [on] to indicate the return of the supply.<\/p>\n
\u201cSwitching off and unplugging at the wall also reduces the risk of damaged appliances.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf a customer\u2019s electricity supply remains off for longer than the period specified on the schedule, they should please send an SMS to the city\u2019s technical operations centre on 31220. The city will then send a team out as soon as possible to restore supply.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe city regrets the inconvenience caused, but would like to assure residents that all areas are treated fairly whether they are supplied by the city or by Eskom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Source\u00a0Fin24<\/a><\/p>\n Eskom moves to stage 3 load shedding on Wednesday<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n What about the schools and hospitals, Eskom?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nMore on Eskom<\/h3>\n