Gauteng Braces for Load Reduction: Communities Face Hours of Power Cuts This Week (22–28 Sept)

If you live in Gauteng, your weekly routine is about to include more candlelight dinners and not the romantic kind. Eskom has confirmed that load reduction will continue across the province from Monday, 22 September to Sunday, 28 September, leaving many households without electricity for up to six hours a day.

The cuts will strike during peak times, 5am to 9am in the mornings and 5pm to 10pm in the evenings, and different communities will experience them at different intervals.

Why Load Reduction, Not Just Load Shedding?

Unlike standard load shedding, which is about balancing supply and demand across the grid, load reduction is Eskom’s direct response to electricity theft and illegal connections. According to the utility, these practices have placed enormous strain on transformers and mini-substations, putting equipment and supply stability at risk.

“Illegal connections are overloading our infrastructure,” Eskom explained, “and load reduction is necessary to prevent permanent damage.”

For many South Africans, this adds salt to the wound. Communities already grappling with unemployment and high living costs are now facing cuts not because of lack of generation, but because of theft in their neighborhoods.

Areas That Will Be Hit

Morning load reduction (5am – 9am) will affect:

• Naledi

• Dobsonville and its extensions

• Mabopane

• Winterveldt

• Jabulani

• Rabie Ridge

• Duduza

• Several settlements across Gauteng

Evening load reduction (5pm – 10pm) will affect:

• Kagiso

• Meadowlands and its extensions

• Cosmo City

• Riverside

• Tsakane

Additional communities listed include:

• Orange Farm

• Sebokeng

• Ga-Rankuwa

• Vereeniging

• Palm Springs

• Orlando East

• Katlehong South

• Sharpeville (listed twice in the official schedule, raising questions about duplication)

• Even Vryburg, in North West, appears on the schedule

The full list, broken down by suburb and time slot, can be downloaded from Eskom’s official notice.

Social Media Reactions: Frustration and Fatigue

On Facebook community groups and WhatsApp neighborhood chats, residents have been quick to vent their frustrations. “So because someone steals, the whole street must sit in darkness?” one Orlando East resident wrote. Others argue that paying customers are being unfairly punished for Eskom’s inability to clamp down on illegal connections.

On X (formerly Twitter), the tone is equally sour: memes comparing South Africa to “the only country where thieves get power but taxpayers don’t” are doing the rounds.

The Bigger Picture

Load reduction is not new. For years, communities in Gauteng and Mpumalanga have faced targeted cuts due to rampant electricity theft. Eskom claims the measure protects infrastructure from total collapse, but critics say it points to deeper governance and policing failures.

Analysts argue that Eskom’s reliance on load reduction exposes a painful reality: South Africa is not just battling a power generation crisis, but also a law enforcement and infrastructure management crisis.

What Residents Can Do

Unfortunately, there’s little households can do to avoid these cuts. Eskom advises residents to:

• Unplug sensitive electronics before outages to avoid damage when power returns.

• Use load reduction schedules to plan ahead for cooking and charging devices.

• Report illegal connections in their communities, although many fear retaliation.

As Gauteng faces yet another week of planned darkness, the frustration is palpable. For paying residents, the sense of unfairness is growing, why should honest consumers pay the price for theft they cannot control?

Until Eskom and law enforcement can curb illegal connections, however, load reduction looks set to remain part of daily life in the province.

Load-reduction-schedule-GAUTENG-SEPT-2025-1-1

{Source: The Citizen}

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