CT load shedding times available online

Eskom has come under fire for power cuts

It will be easier for Capetonians to plan their days around power cuts, Cape Town City said today, as it has just launched a new power cut schedule.

Residents can access the schedule by going to www.capetown.gov.za and a list of areas with the power cut times will be available. The schedule will be available until the end of March.

"These schedules apply to residents who obtain their electricity and accounts from the City. They do not apply to residents who receive their electricity and accounts from Eskom," the City said. The power cuts are expected to last for two and half hours at a time, but the City warned residents that should the demand be higher than estimated, emergency blackouts could occur outside scheduled times.

"The scheduled times cannot be guaranteed because the city is linked to an unpredictable national power grid. Our intention is to help residents plan."

Meanwhile Eskom is also going to include details of its load-shedding times in consumers' bills. This is part of the utility's plans to announce load shedding via different communication systems.

Eskom CEO Jacob Marogo says: "We want to publish in the bills so that people know where the load shedding is."

Maroga says the company is also looking at paying subsidies to solar panel users, similar to the ones in Australia. "We are actually planning a big solar water heating roll-out where we will subsidise the households, and in the next few months that will unfold.... we will start on the process to get the capacity to supply the solar heaters that we need in South Africa.” - Sapa