Energy28.08.2024

Load reduction hitting some South Africans harder than stage 6 load-shedding

Some areas of South Africa are experiencing load reduction outages longer than bouts of stage 6 load-shedding as Eskom fights the challenge of illegal connections and network failures in the country.

Speaking to 702, Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena said the power utility is now being more thorough when investigating the cause of transformer and network failures, adding that some outages may take up to six months to resolve.

“We are experiencing a challenge with certain localised networks, where these networks are overloading, and due to this overloading, then we experience infrastructure damage like transformers exploding,” she said.

“This leads to customers being off for an extended period. Other than that, it becomes a very unsafe situation.”

“The reason why we are load reducing is because of these localised networks that are overloading,” she added.

She explained that load reduction occurs during peak demand hours, with most regions experiencing two-hour outages in the mornings and evenings.

“However, in certain areas, peak hours where we are seeing overloading becomes extended to about five hours. In other areas, it’s four hours both in the mornings and the evenings,” said Mokwena.

For reference, South African residents experienced average outages of 10 hours per day under Stage 6 load-shedding.

She said that in the past, Eskom was very invested in its transformers and would replace failed units as quickly as possible to restore power. However, this is no longer the case.

Mokwena said illegal connections and meter bypasses are primarily to blame for these occurrences, and Eskom now takes its time to audit localised networks thoroughly.

“In the past year, we have spent about R300 million to replace damaged infrastructure. This is an unnecessary cost to Eskom and an unnecessary inconvenience for customers,” said Mokwena.

“Now that we have investigated the reasons why infrastructure is getting damaged and transformers are exploding, we found that many customers are illegally connecting, and some are bypassing their meters.”

“We now go back into the communities and audit the localised network. That whole process takes a long time. It may take up to six months for electricity to be restored,” she added.

Eskom and law enforcement raided Diepsloot in August 2024 and disconnected stacks of illegally-connected transformers

The state-owned power utility has been working hard to disconnect illegally-connected transformers across South Africa.

On 21 August 2024, it announced the removal of 35 transformers in Diepsloot, Gauteng, through a joint operation with various law enforcement agencies.

The operation formed part of Eskom’s efforts to reclaim its network and alleviate strain on localised electricity networks.

It shared pictures showing stacks of illegally connected transformers, and community leaders allege that Eskom employees were involved in selling the illegal transformers.

“These illegal practices compromise Eskom’s financial health and its ability to deliver a dependable electricity supply to legitimate customers,” Eskom said in a statement.

“Illegally-connected transformers not only destabilise the network, causing frequent supply interruptions, extended outages and substandard service for paying customers but also pose significant safety risks to Eskom technicians working on the system.”

It added that it is investigating the claims from community leaders and will update them on the outcomes.

Mokwena mentioned that Eskom spent R300 million over the past year replacing damaged transformers resulting from illegal connections. However, the power utility’s costs extend far beyond this.

Eskom said that, in the 2022/23 financial year, it suffered non-technical losses of R5 billion resulting from illegal connections, meter bypasses, and other electricity-related crimes.

Photos of the illegal transformers and Eskoms teams disconnecting them are shown below.

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