Eskom says it managed to bring back the generating units that tripped and is replenishing emergency reserves for the coming week. Photo: Beeld
Parts of Gauteng will be without electricity between 5pm and
10pm on Sunday after power utility Eskom announced another round of
load reduction.
The utility tweeted out the list of areas that would be
without power on Sunday afternoon.
Eskom says load reduction differs from load shedding, as it
only implemented in specific areas when the utility fears that illegal connections
and overloading may cause power outages.
When load reduction takes place the
utility preemptively switches off power to keep its
infrastructure operational.
Load shedding, meanwhile, affects the whole country, and occurs when Eskom’s technicians tell it it needs to reduce national electricity demand to stop the country’s grid becoming overloaded.
Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha tweeted on Sunday evening that load reduction is not the utility’s fault.
Loadshedding=@Eskom_SA’s fault. Load reduction=To stop thieves stealing electricity through illegal connections and meter bypassing, destroying transformers and substations
— SikonathiMantshantsh (@SikonathiM) June 21, 2020
