Approximately 85 businesses located near the Mpumalanga Township in Hammarsdale under the eThekwini Municipality are expected to shut down intermittently while Eskom repairs the electrical infrastructure at the Georgedale Substation from Saturday.
The eThekwini municipality said planned Eskom power outages will interrupt the electricity supply in the Mpumalanga Township, over three weekends including Mondays, on:
• 25 to 27 January
• 1 to 3 February and,
• 15 to 17 February.
The municipality said the public will experience daily outages from 5am to 5pm during these periods.
The supply interruption is required to allow Eskom to refurbish the electrical infrastructure at the Georgedale Substation which feeds the Mpumalanga Substation.
“To execute this work safely, it is necessary to interrupt electricity supply at the Mpumalanga Substation. The maintenance work is required to improve the reliability of these substations, leading to a higher quality of electricity supply to the area,” the municipality stated.
During this period, the Mpumalanga Township will be affected.
John White, CEO of Hammarsdale Cato Ridge Development Association, said they understand and appreciate the urgency by Eskom to complete this critical maintenance. He added that the maintenance will strengthen the grid in the region and allow faster, safer restoration when there are faults.
White commended Eskom for its openness with key customers which has included a site visit, clear explanations of the work to be undertaken, and commitment to maintain open communication through the process.
He said the downtime estimated at 108 hours in total will be “incredibly difficult” for businesses and the residential community, but the best compromise seems to have been achieved.
The association represents 85 businesses located in this region that collectively employ over 11,500 people directly.
“Members will be shutting down all or some of their facilities if their processes can’t be powered by solar power, or if using generators is practically economically unfeasible. For some customers, these stoppages are incredibly complex as they run 24/7 and have long supply chains. Staff will naturally be affected at the workplace and at home,” White said.
White said the association has been communicating extensively with members to ensure that there is widespread awareness of the outages. Eskom has also been communicating its plans extensively, he said.
“The work is clearly necessary and will stabilise the grid. It also makes it safer for Eskom staff to work on the grid and allows faults to be addressed more quickly. This region is fed directly by Eskom which makes the power significantly cheaper than elsewhere in eThekwini Municipality. That the local grid is more stable just increases the value proposition of this region,” White said.
The power outages will not only affect Mpumalanga but also the Royal and Elangeni sub-stations for all of the periods mentioned.
zainul.dawood@inl.co.za