Eskom has taken over loadshedding in the City of Ekurhuleni (CoE), saying the municipality failed to implement power cuts.

"Eskom has on numerous occasions engaged the municipality regarding its failure to loadshed its customers," the utility said in a statement on Wednesday.

Eskom had previously taken over some of the role, with the municipality left to loadshed substations with "critical loads". Eskom later handed over all loadshedding to the municipality after it asked to assume responsibility again.

"Although Eskom notes the CoE's technical challenges in executing loadshedding, it is left with no choice but to implement loadshedding for the CoE as the non-compliance puts further strain on the already constrained grid," Eskom said.

"Failure to implement loadshedding by municipalities affects the integrity and stability of the grid, which may lead to higher stages of loadshedding."

CoE spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said that city would ask Eskom to not to shed some "critical substations in areas with a high concentration of large industries, because this will not only impact the economy of the region but also threatens jobs".

"We are an economic hub and therefore, we are looking forward to positive engagements with the power utility bearing in mind the valuable contribution of industry to the economy," Dlamini said.