The City of Cape Town has been advised by Eskom that they have initiated countrywide load shedding from 8am this morning. This will affect Cape Town residents in both the Eskom supply area and the City supply area. The load shedding schedule for City of Cape Town supply residents is currently at stage 3. Residents and suburbs may be affected at their indicated times, depending on the current demand from Eskom.

City load shedding schedules are available at: http://www.capetown.gov.za/en/electricity/Pages/LoadShedding.aspx

Whilst the City is doing everything in its power to assist Eskom for the sake of our residents and businesses, it is important to note that the City is wholly reliant on Eskom for the electricity supply to the entire city. The City is only responsible for electricity distribution in certain parts of the city.

If a customer’s electricity supply remains off for longer than the period specified in the schedules, they should please send an SMS to the City’s technical operations centre on 31220. In certain cases, the restoration of power results in what is known as ‘nuisance tripping’ which often goes unreported due to the assumption that the outage is due to the load shedding.

The City regrets the inconvenience caused, but would like to assure residents that all areas are treated fairly, whether they are supplied by the City or by Eskom.

Customers can do their part by switching off all non-essential appliances and by monitoring their usage. Residents are also requested to minimise water usage because in some instances water supply is reliant on electrical pumps. Please note that the constraints on the electricity supply are felt throughout the day during the summer months i.e. there is no ‘evening peak’. As such, responsible consumer practices should please be applied throughout the day.

We will keep Cape Town residents informed as we receive updates from Eskom.
Any further queries should be directed to Eskom.

Eskom load shedding schedules are at: http://loadshedding.eskom.co.za/