The Environment and Infrastructure Services Department (EISD) cautions residents of Johannesburg to stay vigilant as Loadshedding returns to keep South Africans in the dark. 

“Loadshedding is not only about being in the dark due to blackouts. It is the exact time cable thieves strike and our infrastructure becomes vulnerable to outages,” MMC for EISD Cllr. Michael Sun said. 

“Not only does loadshedding provide a handy schedule to the thugs that steal our cables and other equipment without the risk of electrocution, but City Power infrastructure wasn’t designed to be constantly powered up and powered down. The whole process makes the system more susceptible to faults.” 

Accordingly, EISD appeals to residents to try prevent Cable Theft before it happens by reporting any suspicious behaviour in their neighbourhoods during loadshedding. 

Residents are also requested for patience as City Power technicians restore power to existing outages and any caused by loadshedding. Proactive measures include using electricity as sparingly as possible during directly before and after blackouts to prevent overloads on the network. 

“Remember that City Power technicians cannot work on the network during loadshedding. This is the unfortunate reality we have to live with during blackouts,” MMC for EISD Cllr. Michael Sun said. 

“But there is hope as the city will in coming weeks be launching the framework for the procurement of energy from Independent Power Producers which will be key in ending Johannesburg’s dependence on Eskom and lessening the impact of loadshedding.”