Electricity experts have warned Eskom that its load-shedding strategy is backfiring, destroying electricity infrastructure and plunging communities into extended periods without power.
However, despite the warning, the government has insisted that load shedding - as the best strategy to conserve power - will continue. This means that the lull in power cuts over the holidays is a respite and scheduled blackouts will resume.
At least two substations, in Port Elizabeth and Kempton Park, have exploded because of load-shedding this week, plunging communities into darkness for days.
Experts warned that the ageing infrastructure of the country's substations was not coping with load-shedding, and that to continue would result in an even worse crisis.
This week, Cape Town called on Eskom to implement different energy-saving methods, arguing that load-shedding was not yielding the desired results.
Cape Town technicians argued that, instead of saving the required 10 percent on electricity usage, load-shedding was seeing the opposite - where businesses and residents increased their electricity usage during those times when electricity was available, so adding to the pressure on the power grid. This could lead to damaged substations and prolonged blackouts.
full story from Sunday Tribune here
Did you like this article? Share it with your favourite social network.