Eskom has announced that they will be rolling out load limiting instead of Load shedding most likely Buccleuch from 1 February 2024.

In order to assist residents of Buccleuch on how best to benefit from this:
Firstly, to dispel any myths circulating, Load Limiting is a much better option for residents compared to load shedding (Or at least the lesser of 2 evils), and it only occurs during scheduled load shedding times not throughout the day.
Load limiting Differs from Load shedding whereby during the scheduled load shedding time (stage 1 to 4 only) instead of your home not having any power whatsoever your power will be limited to 10 Amps (approximately 2400w / 2.4Kw).
Streetlights and Traffic lights should still work during the time as long as majority of residents abide by this limit.
Load limiting will affect only Residents who have Smart meters (this is both Post and prepaid customers) Each home is individually monitored so no one can be cut off if their neighbours do not abide, though unfortunately those with non-smart meters or Complexes and business that only have 1 main Eskom meter may not be included as combined they will be over the 10-amp limit so will be load shed as normal.

If a user is over the 10 Amp limit, Eskom will give residents a maximum of 4 warnings before ultimately cutting their power off for the duration of the scheduled load shedding time.
In order to for you to have power during the loadshedding time ensure that high wattage equipment is switched off and not used during this period (including but not limited to Aircons, Heaters, Geysers, stoves, ovens, washing machines, Dishwashers etc.) Try to familiarize yourself with the wattage of your devises and switch off as much as you can, to keep your total usage below the 10 Amp (2400w limit).

A side note Eskom sent out a notice advising those with inverters should not use them to charge their batteries at this time, *some people were confused as to how this will affected them while others mistakenly claiming they targeting inverter users They are not in fact, it is good advice in this case, different models of inverters charge at different amperages so unless you know exactly how much it uses or have the ability to limit it,  it is a good idea to ensure that during the scheduled time it isn't charging the batteries or if you have the ability to limit its charge  current to do this ( you will need to check you inverter manual or contact your installer if the model you have installed has this capability ), again this is only during loadshedding/ load limiting periods.

Examples of What can be used during load limiting, Lights (LED globes so try to convert all your points to led not only will it help during load limiting but will reduce your electricity bill), your TV / DSTV, PC /laptop, refrigerator/ freezer (if it has a good efficiency rating) etc as long as their combined usage does not go over 10Amps / 2400w / 2.4Kw.
Using  microwaves or kettles for a short time may be ok  try not to use much else at the same time to keep below the limit.

If you have an Eskom CIU you can check your  usage by pressing the i key followed by 001 and then the Ent key and it will display your homes current usage in Kilowatts or pressing the i key followed by 400 and then the Ent key and it will display your  current usage in Amps  from Eskom if it's close to or above 2.4kw / 10Amps try to switch off more appliances and check again to see how much it has come down.

All above are to be adhered only to during the Load limiting / Load shedding period the rest of the time you can use your equipment as normal (though low usage will save you money in the log run)
I hope this will help residents understand what to do and better manage their usage during Load limiting.

The schedule meeting for tomorrow morning will cover most of this and the Eskom representatives will be able to answer any additional questions the community may have.

Found this message useful?  Join the Buccleuch load shedding telegram channel for more updates like this:
https://t.me/BuccLUX