More Eskom load-shedding, City customers to go to Stage 1

15 July 2020

The City of Cape Town has managed to protect most of its customers from load-shedding today by drawing on extra power from its Steenbras Hydro Pump Station, because Eskom implemented Stage 1 load-shedding. Unfortunately, now that Eskom has announced it will move to Stage 2 from 14:00, the City has no choice but to shed its customers at Stage 1 from 14:00. It does not have enough spare generation capacity to protect customers from two stages of load-shedding. Load-shedding has also severely impacted City teams who have tried to attend to the large area outages caused by the storm damage of the past few days. Read more below:

The last few days have literally been a perfect storm of severe storm-related infrastructure damage, load-shedding and required COVID-19 operational limitations. The City thanks customers for their support and understanding. Thank you to our teams who continue to work nonstop to fix the storm and load-shedding-related power outages.

‘More than 5 000 service requests have been attended to and work continues to resolve prolonged outages that are being experienced which are affecting large areas due to the severity of the storm-related electricity infrastructure damage across parts of the metro. Eskom’s load-shedding has also contributed to the challenge of restoring power and/or the high number of service requests due to nuisance tripping among others. It is with great frustration that we take note of Eskom’s announcement that it will go to Stage 2. The ripple effect on our operations and Cape Town as a whole is simply unacceptable,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Energy and Climate Change, Councillor Phindile Maxiti.

Customers are encouraged to make use of SMS or email to report electricity outages. They are also encouraged to log their own service requests via e-Services.

Some larger area outages are still being attended to in parts of Grassy Park, Lotus River, Retreat, Bergvliet, Rylands, Brooklyn, Southfield, Wynberg, Diep River, Claremont, Heathfield, Meadowridge, Steenberg, Schaapkraal, Fish Hoek, Noordhoek, Nyanga, Constantia, Gugulethu, Philippi, Bishopscourt, Kenilworth, Eikendal, Rondebosch and Wetton areas, among others. This takes longer to fix. Unfortunately delays are to be expected due to the sheer volume of faults caused by the damaged power infrastructure and the large area outages. We are unable to say how long it will take to restore individual faults but we are working as hard as we can.

Trees affecting power lines, infrastructure

• Property owners are encouraged to maintain their trees and vegetation. Stormy weather usually contributes to an increase in power outages especially where tree branches grow over and into overhead power lines.
•  The City’s Electricity Generation and Distribution Department has made every effort to minimise electricity outages caused by trees growing alongside overhead power lines by carrying out various tree clearing efforts in preparation for winter storms. Vegetation growing too close to overhead power lines is especially dangerous.
• Property owners or those renting a property are urged to do this maintenance work while taking safety precautions and to ensure the required clearance of at least 3,8 metres between vegetation and power lines. Residents are also reminded that branches that encroach on streetlights diminish their efficacy. Clearing of overhead lines can be dangerous and property owners can approach the City for advice if they have already let trees grow too close to power lines.
•  Should residents be concerned that there is a risk of trees on City property encroaching on City overhead power lines, they are encouraged to report these cases to the City’s Fault Reporting Centre on 0860 103 089 or FaultReporting.Centre@capetown.gov.za.

Nuisance tripping

Residents are encouraged to be mindful that they may also be experiencing outages due to Eskom's load-shedding. When power is restored after load-shedding, nuisance tripping sometimes occurs. This is when the power is restored to an area and fails to come back on in some parts. The power outage often goes unreported because residents assume that it is due to load-shedding. In the event of load-shedding, residents are encouraged to reduce the risk and occurrence of nuisance tripping by switching off appliances, including geysers, air conditioners and pool pumps prior to load-shedding and leaving one light on to indicate the return of the supply.

Steenbras Hydro Pump Station: How it works

• Electricity generated during relatively low-cost off-peak periods is used to pump water from a lower to an upper storage reservoir. During periods of peak demand, the water is released back to the lower reservoir, thereby generating electricity like a conventional hydroelectric power station.
• Hydroelectricity is produced using the gravitational force of falling or flowing water to power an electricity generator.
• The Western Cape does not have a big enough body of water to produce the amount of electricity we’d need to meet all of our power needs in Cape Town and surrounds. We do have small hydro generators on schemes like the Steenbras scheme. This is why the City can sometimes avoid load-shedding, or remain on a lesser stage than Eskom has requested.

Steenbras scheme facts

• The Steenbras power station was the first hydro-electric pumped storage scheme in Africa when it was built more than 30 years ago. Each of the station’s four 45 000 kW generator units acts as a pump-motor in one mode and a turbine-generator in the other.

Adopt smarter energy use habits in the home:

• Turn the geyser down to 60°C. 
•  Switch off electrical appliances at the wall sockets when not in use to reduce energy. 
•  Use less hot water. 
•  Shower instead of bathing. You will save up to 80% in water and use five times less electricity than heating bath water if you take a short shower. 
•  Dry your laundry using sunshine where possible and try not to use the tumble dryer. For rainy days, use drying racks indoors. 
•  Replace regular bulbs with energy-saving ones such as LEDs that use six times less electricity.
•  Seal gaps around windows and doors to keep heat from escaping and cold drafts from breezing in.
•  Use a stove plate that’s most similar to the size of your pot. An electric stove uses up to 40% of its heat when the pot is too small, which means you waste electricity. If you own an insulation cooker, bring your food to a boil then place it in there. The retained heat slow-cooks, saving up to 60% on energy.

For more information on how to reduce usage, please visit www.savingelectricity.org.za

Contact us:
SMS: 31220 (electricity faults)
Email: power@capetown.gov.za
e-Services: https://www.capetown.gov.za/City-Connect/Report/Municipal-services-and-maintenance/Submit-a-service-request/Submit%20a%20service%20request%20online

Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office