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Revised load-shedding schedules and groups

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The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality announced numerous changes with a reduction in the frequency of load-shedding for consumers at Munelek, its Electricity and Energy headquarters today.

This means domestic groups will be switched off for two hours at a time at most and industrial groups (stages 5 – 8) for four hours at a time.

Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Executive Director for Electricity and Energy, Luvuyo Magalela, said numerous factors were taken into account during the evaluation process.

“When load shedding first started in 2008, we took a conscious decision not to switch off industrial areas in order to avoid major disruptions that can lead to job losses. The unemployment rate in Nelson Mandela Bay is above 30% and a major cause for concern.

“We had sessions with the business sector to keep them up to date regarding load shedding and businesses in turn implemented systems to use less electricity. For that, we are grateful.

“Towards the end of last year, we were obligated by Eskom to add additional stages to the four we had in place. A document, compiled by various role-players such as the South African Local Government Association, Eskom, NERSA, Grid Code Advisory Committee, NRS Committee and local government institutions, was also improved on. This document serves as a national guideline on how load shedding should be implemented. In addition, we conducted social media polls on twitter and facebook to allow our consumers to have their say.

“With all these factors in mind, we made numerous changes to our schedules and groups. From Monday, 2 March, these changes will be in place. Domestic groups will increase from 8 to 19 with additional suburbs added. Industrial groups will increase from eight to eleven.

“Originally, we calculated the schedules equitably over an eight-day cycle. Our new schedule is calculated over a cycle of 19 days with a reduction in the number of times a group is shed. This means that domestic groups will not be shed for longer than two hours at a time.

“Furthermore, we calculated the cycle for industrial groups over eleven days and only industrial groups will be shed for four hours at a time, from now on,” Magalela said.

The new schedules and groups will be in effect from Monday. Residents are requested to familiarise themselves with the revised schedules and groups that will be available on the municipal website (www.nelsonmandelabay.gov.za) from today.

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.