City Power says it has begun to roll out a solution called ‘load limiting’ in its areas of supply in Johannesburg, with the aim to help consumers keep the lights on during Eskom’s load shedding.<\/p>\n
Load limiting applies to consumers with smart meters of which there are currently 65,000 in circulation.<\/p>\n
The initiative will enable City Power to accurately determine available supply in relation to consumption in real time, and alert households that are above the required consumption threshold to cut down on consumption.<\/p>\n
City of Joburg, which is in partnership with Cit Power, has previously said that when fully implemented, this innovative solution allows the area under its jurisdiction to avert Stage 1, 2 and partial Stage 3 of load shedding.<\/p>\n
City Power explained that, during a load limiting session, electricity will go for for approximately 30 seconds, but will then come back on for an additional 30 seconds before switching off again.<\/p>\n
“You have now entered the load limiting stage, City Power’s managing director, Sicelo Xulu told SABC Digital News.<\/p>\n
He said consumers should then switch off some of their appliances, including geysers and underfloor heating, pool pumps etc…in order to reduce the load ‘to at least an acceptable limit that will help City Power to avoid load shedding.<\/p>\n
Xulu said that City Power has already started with a large scale role out of load limiting – in mid July.<\/p>\n
The initial load limiting saw 9,000 houses affected, which will be ramped up to approximately 30,000 households in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
He said that initial feedback shows that the majority of customers are complying with load limiting, which takes place between 7-9pm when City Power experiences peak demand.<\/p>\n
He said that the power firm anticipates load limiting 128 megawatts.<\/p>\n
Xulu provided a live demonstration on SABC Digital News:<\/p>\n