Power surge costs residents thousands of Rands in damages

Kensington residents are obtaining legal advice after cable theft and a subsequent power surge cost several residents thousands of Rand in damaged home and electrical appliances.

Mrs Shelley Jackson said she and most of her neighbours were told by City Power officials that a neutral cable was stolen from a substation on Juno Street.

This allowed more than 420 volts to go through to the houses.

She said residents were told this high voltage was the cause of damages to appliances and computers.

“Initially I thought it was load shedding. I was on my phone when I heard sounds like gunshots. I was in my office and when I looked up, there was an orange ball flying from one UP to another. There was also a blue flame,” she said.

Mrs Jackson’s husband, who was in their garden, heard his wife’s screams and when he entered the house he noticed the appliances and other equipment that was damaged.

She said her loss was in the region of R35 000.

Another resident, Mr Rudy Jucker, also described the sound as “gunfire”.

“It came from my washing machine. I then saw smoke coming from it and I switched it off. There was another explosion and my microwave oven that was off, came on. Afterwards, I saw that everything that was connected to a power supply had been damaged. The garage remote controls were even melted,” he said.

Mrs Jackson said the damage at his home was about R50 000.

“It is not the first time the substation was vandalised. It was burnt down once. It needs to be secured. As residents, we also need to keep our eyes open. If we see something suspicious at the substation, we need to report it to the police,” she said.

The EXPRESS sent an inquiry to City Power and requested comment by October 1 at 9am.

At the time of going to print, no comment had been received.