City Power urges energy saving
JOHANNESBURG – The power utility will also prioritise resources to address power outages.
During the winter season, the City of Joburg’s electricity network is prone to outages in most, if not all, areas supplied by City Power.
According to the power utility, this is mainly due to an increase in demand for electricity, resulting in overloading the network. Outages are also due to equipment failure.
In an effort to reduce the number of unplanned outages, City Power has a prepared winter plan.
Read: Consumers encouraged to take steps to save up
City Power’s spokesperson, Sydney Mphahlele said the winter plan’s key focus will be on areas of the network that experience repeated outages on the same day or week. He said among other efforts, it will include equipping technicians with spares, strategic material and consumables in the event of unplanned outages.
“We also plan to increase the number of technicians attending to outages in our areas of supply. More teams will be dispatched to attend to outages as well as to respond to emergency calls,” said Mphahlele.
He added that the plan has already driven them to proactively replace and repair sections of cables that have contributed to repeated outages. Constant monitoring of the network, maintenance and new technologies are part of ongoing efforts to reduce outages, he said.
Read: City Power welcomes Mashaba’s investigation
Mphahlele, however, said the effectiveness of the winter plan was not only dependent upon measures put into place by City Power but also requires cooperation from electricity users.
“Our customers need to consider alternative and less intensive heating methods such as gas, compact fluorescent lighting, solar water heaters and heat generation through conventional fireplaces. We are relying on our customers to make the necessary adjustments to save electricity in their households.”
This, said Mphahlele, will help decrease the loading on the network, and prevent unplanned outages while easing pressure on the grid.
Details: www.citypower.co.za
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