Johannesburg – Eskom on Tuesday announced that it will resume load reduction to protect its network from overloading.
The power utility said while it has suspended load-shedding for 104 consecutive days due to sufficient generation capacity to supply electricity to the country, the issue of network overloading has resurfaced with the onset of winter.
Network overloading was prevalent in the Eskom supply areas in Limpopo, Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu Natal, and North West.
Eskom said about 94 percent of the total overloaded transformers were located in these seven provinces.
The overloads were linked to electricity theft and indiscriminate use of power.
Eskom said it has no other option but to implement load reduction to protect its assets from repeated failures and explosions, which risk human lives.
“Overloaded transformers as a result of electricity theft present a serious risk to human life, we only implement load reduction as a very last resort for the shortest periods possible after all other options have been exhausted,” explained Monde Bala, group executive for Eskom distribution.
“A transformer damaged by overloading can leave an area without power for up to six months, protecting Eskom’s assets is in the best interest of all South Africans.”
The electricity theft activities were wide-ranging and include illegal connections, network equipment theft, vandalism, meter bypasses and tampering, unauthorised network operations, and purchasing electricity from illegal vendors.
Load reduction is a long-established process Eskom uses in specific areas when there is sufficient electricity available.
Eskom explained that it uses load reduction when a transformer’s integrity was at risk due to overloading, whereas load-shedding was used when the national grid was constrained and there is not sufficient capacity to generate electricity to meet demand.
The power utility said load reduction was a proactive measure that Eskom uses to protect human life, livelihoods, and equipment worth millions of rand.
Eskom said overloading of the transformers was recorded mainly during peak hours between 7:00 and 5:00 in the morning and 17:00 and 19:00 in the evening.
Bala said in the areas where load reduction has been implemented in the past, Eskom has seen a significant reduction in equipment failure and prolonged outages.
In areas where load reduction would be implemented, the relevant cluster or province would communicate with affected customers through the normal channels including SMS and customer connect newsletters.
There were currently around 2 111 transformers that were frequently overloaded across the country at risk of being damaged, with around 900 transformers awaiting replacement.
