The City of Cape Town reminds residents to reduce the risk of nuisance tripping by switching off major and non-essential appliances prior to load-shedding. Secondary or nuisance tripping happens when the power does not come back on immediately after the occurrence of load-shedding. This is because the system gets overloaded and trips when all electrical demand or appliances come back on at the same time.

The City encourages residents to reduce the risk of nuisance tripping occurring in their areas by switching off appliances prior to their scheduled load-shedding in their areas. 

‘Secondary tripping typically happens when the power has been restored after a period of load-shedding. When the power comes back on, tripping in an area often happens when electrical equipment such as geysers all come on at the same time, not having been switched off prior to load-shedding. It overloads the system and it trips, leading to secondary outages.

‘The risk of tripping is reduced when residents switch off appliances such as their geysers, air conditioners and pool pumps prior to load-shedding and leaving one light on to indicate the return of the supply.

‘The City continues to do its utmost best to protect residents from the worst impacts of load-shedding, primarily through the management of the Steenbras Hydro Pumped Storage Scheme,’ said Councillor Beverley Van Reenen, the City’s Mayoral Committee member for Energy.

Be load-shedding prepared: 

• Know your load-shedding area number and schedule. Download the City’s app on Apple and Android and check the City’s social media pages for regular Load-shedding updates. 

• Keep your cellphone and laptop fully charged. 

• Keep your rechargeable lights, torches or candles in an easy to reach area. 

• Use surge protectors to protect your electrical devices. 

• Consider an uninterrupted power supply (UPS) backup battery system that will allow you to plug in one or more appliances (similar to a generator).

Doing more to end load-shedding over time

City customers have been protected from more than 1 100 hours of Eskom’s 1 900 hours of load-shedding between February 2022 and September 2022.

The City also continues to build on its programme of ending load-shedding over time by focusing on energy diversification to enhance security of supply with the City’s own build projects, small-scale embedded generation programmes of buying excess power from qualifying customers, wheeling and independent power producer programmes. 

Source: City Of Cape Town