Loadshedding hits Johannesburg after city loses extra power generation

City Power has lost generating capacity from Kelvin substation‚ which had allowed it to keep the lights on in Johannesburg despite Eskom's loadsheding elsewhere.

"Unfortunately this has forced us to embark on loadshedding at Stage 2 as declared by Eskom‚" the entity said on Monday.

City Power said in a statement on its social media platform that one line was lost after it was "impacted by the damage to the 275kv Prospect/Sebenza Line" on Saturday night.

"The line never recovered and it's currently out of commission with repairs expected to be done. As such only one is currently online at Kelvin Power Station‚ leaving us vulnerable."

At the weekend‚ City Power said a fault affected one of the incoming lines at the Sebenza substation. This had resulted in several areas in east and central Johannesburg experiencing a total loss of supply. The outage affected close to ten substations supplying electricity to several suburbs.