A few Alberton substations have been declared as being in a bad state. This follows an unannounced site inspection to the respective substations on June 10.
A number of complaints of electricity outages to Ward 106 councillor alderman Bruna Haipel prompted the visit.
The inspection was also driven by a need to assess the Alrode substations and other primary substations as winter approaches, to avoid power overload during this time.
The inspection was led by an oversight committee, Haipel, Ward 37 councillor Tiaan Kotze and Ward 1 councillor Dereck Thomson. The trio observed that the two substations they visited were in a desperate need of maintenance.
“Being part of the City’s electricity and water oversight, we have the permission to do unannounced visits to these key areas to see progress. With winter coming, if they are not in a good state, there is going to be huge outages with overloading,” said Haipel.
She said substations should rather be maintained rather than replaced, since this was more cost effective. Haipel highlighted that the electricity department is short staffed and they have also had to cut budgets.
“People have also lost faith in councillors, as they think we are not doing enough yet they do not always realise the existing challenges.”
Observations
Upon their inspection, they discovered that the main 33 kilovolts feeder substation supplying the Alrode area was not properly maintained. At the same time the primary substation supplying the Alrode industrial area was not conducive and had security challenges.
Thomson said: “My biggest fear is that there are 11 other mini substations that are feeding the greater Alrode areas. “Another worrying factor is mini subs that have been vandalised which could lead to more serious problems. By-laws are also not being implemented.”
According to Thomson, some of the contributing factors which led to bad service delivery included lack of maintenance and funds.
He also said the City needed to employ more electricians and engineers in order to improve its services.
WATCH: Oversight committee explains its observation following an inspection
Outages
Power disturbances have continued to adversely affect greater parts of Alberton and have left other residents with thousands worth of damages.
A frustrated 76-year-old Randhart resident, who suffered thousands worth of damages and refrigerated products thrown away due to outages, expressed his concern. He told the RECORD that thanks to his wife’s insurance they managed to cover a few expenses from the damaged appliances.
However, he still encountered losses and said he now worries that the problem may still loom as a result of the City’s electricity supplies not being properly maintained.
“In December we had a few houses in the neighbourhood which experienced outages, and in January about six houses experienced similar problems. Recently in May, we had a power surge which resulted to a lot of people’s appliances being damaged.”
He suggested that representatives from the City’s electricity department should have recorded maintenance on these supplies.
Kotze said reasons leading to power outages always differ.
“Outages are mainly caused by fibre diggings and cable faults. If a power cable gets hit the damage may later lead to failure or further damage,” he said.
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