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Buffalo City Metro says a proposal for a 24-hour period of load shedding in a week to allow businesses to operate uninterrupted for four days a week, will be “strongly considered.”
This is one of several proposals that BCM is taking under strong consideration as it puts action plans in place to mitigate the impact of the sustained higher levels of load shedding.
According to a statement on Wednesday, BCM’s leadership met with the Border Kei Chamber of Business, where the idea of a 24-hour black-out a week was among several tabled.
City spokesperson, Samkelo Ngwenya, says they have requested technical information in order to undertake a thorough investigation of this proposal.
“Upon receiving all this information, the Metro will undertake a process towards the feasibility of this proposal and revert back to business on the outcome,” he said.
Meanwhile, as part of the mitigation process, and to ease the burden on weary consumers, Buffalo City Metro says it will reduce the period of load shedding from three hours to two hours.
Ngwenya says the three-hour per block systems works well during the lower stages of load shedding, but now that Eskom is consistently implementing higher stages of load shedding, BCM's network was placed under pressure.
He says BCM is investigating ways of implementing the new block system but this could be affected by the fact that the code of practice that governs load shedding, known as NRS 048-9, is also undergoing a change.
“The major factor on the implementation of the change to the block format is the fact that the NRS 048-9 which controls load shedding is also undergoing change, which may change the way load shedding is implemented in the country,” Ngwenya said.
He said vandalism and theft are also playing a major role on the City’s ability to keep the lights, with the mayor leading a call on the government “to ban scrap metal dealers” which he said are the “source of trade for those that steal cables.”
Ngwenya said BCM was also exploring various avenues to become energy “self-sufficient” by introducing Independent Power Producers to provide alternative energy solutions.
