From stage 2 to 4 load shedding in the city will be implemented every day, but should the energy situation in the country remain at stage 1, George will only be free of load shedding for a mere eight days. And that is only if Eskom’s load shedding remains on stage 1 on those eight days (2, 6, 10, 14, 19, 23, 27 and 31 July). Should Eskom up the stage to 2, 3 or 4, the city will experience outages every single day of the month.
And now for the really bad news…
The schedule will most likely remain in place for the rest of the year – and it’s still six long months before Christmas comes.
The new schedule follows a letter to Eskom written by a local maths teacher complaining that her business was being negatively affected by the current 14:00 - 16:30 load shedding hours. Her maths lessons are computer based and whenever the power is switched off during this time, her lessons cannot continue. The letter included a petition with about 95 signatures of other residents.
The letter dated 3 May was sent to the George Business Chamber with the teacher requesting a written reply from Eskom. The chamber then sent it to the George Municipality on 19 June requesting that the electro-technical department forward the letter to Eskom.
The letter seems to have backfired as until now, compared to the rest of the country, George has been experiencing precious few power outages due to load shedding.
During June the city of George has only been subjected to load shedding twice - on Friday afternoons between 14:00 and 16:30 - a time when many businessmen and women can be found on the golf course or in restaurants where kitchens mostly operate on gas.
Depending on the stage, the new schedule will see households facing many a dark night from 18:00 to 20:30, 20:00 to 22:30 and 22:00 00:30.
Load shedding is also scheduled for mid-morning and from 06:00 to 08:30 – no need for the George Municipality to switch off our geysers anymore.
The time slot 16:00 to 18:30 also features quite often and, so sorry, madam maths teacher - on some days Eskom will still be switching off the power in George from 14:00 to 16:30.
So light the fire and get out the blankets, we’re in for a cold July!
ARTICLE: ILSE SCHOONRAAD, GEORGE HERALD EDITOR
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