The eThekwini Municipality’s reduced loadshedding schedule will come to an end next week. 

The municipality said in a statement that it would introduce a new loadshedding schedule on 25 May.

Residents have been on a reduced schedule for more than a year, after devastating floods swept through the province in April last year, causing damage to infrastructure.

The municipality said the decision had been taken following discussions with Eskom.

"eThekwini has been on a reduced level of loadshedding since the April 2022 floods, owing to the negative impact of the floods on the City's electrical network. While the City's infrastructure is not yet repaired to pre-flood levels, the City acknowledges the country's need to reduce the load to protect the national grid," the statement said.

"It has therefore become unavoidable for eThekwini to revert to normal loadshedding stages as experienced by the rest of the country."

However, the municipality said that there were some areas in which electricity infrastructure was still damaged and that certain substations could not be switched off, as this would "pose a significant risk to residents and infrastructure".

"The City is finalising the amended loadshedding schedule and this will be shared with the public as soon as it is ready. Suburban block allocations have been amended to accommodate required changes," it said.

"Customers are urged to check their suburbs against their new block numbers when the schedule is published."

Industrial areas, which have been allocated to Blocks 17 to 20, will face four hours of loadshedding at a time from Stage 7 upwards. This was expected to limit the impact of loadshedding on production, the statement added.

"Customers are urged to minimise their electricity usage. Customers are also urged to switch off high load appliances during power outages to prevent high waiting loads when the power does return. This will prevent extended outages," the municipality added.