Parts of Soweto To Be Hit by 18 Hour Power Outage, Eskom Announces

• Eskom has announced an 18-hour power outage for parts of Gauteng in Soweto from Tuesday to Wednesday
• The utility said it needed to run maintenance on essential infrastructure following months without load shedding
• Eskom added that should circumstances beyond its control arise, it will not go ahead with the planned maintenance

JOHANNESBURG — While load shedding seems to be a thing of the past, residents of Soweto, Gauteng, are set to face a lengthy power outage.

Parts of Snake Park will be dark from 9am until 6pm on Tuesday, 19 November 2024, and Wednesday, 20 November 2024.

Lengthy power outage to hit Soweto

Eskom said this was due to planned maintenance on the distribution network in the area as it prepared residents for the looming supply disruption, which it added was necessary to perform essential maintenance on power lines.

Accordingly, the national power utility noted that the parts of Snake Park that will be affected are the housing units in blocks 4 to 7.

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To ensure their safety, Eskom said customers must treat electrical appliances as live while the power is out.

"If there should be circumstances beyond Eskom's control, the planned maintenance will not go ahead. We apologise for any inconvenience this maintenance may cause," said the utility.

Eskom ready for economic growth

Elsewhere, a new report released by Eskom revealed that the state utility will have enough electricity for the next five years.

According to IOL, the state-owned enterprise is ready for the country's projected 2.6% future economic growth.

The report said Eskom needed a 63% availability factor to prevent load-shedding, and anything under that 50% would plunge SA back into it.

Dark December in store for Johannesburg

In related news, Briefly News reported that Johannesburg could be in for a dark December if Eskom has its way.

The power utility threatened to cut off electricity to Midrand, the CBD, Mnandi, Cresta and other areas as soon as 14 December, as the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) owes R4.9 billion in unpaid bills.

Source: Briefly News