Power outages leave residents in the lurch

ONGOING power outages in Westridge have left residents and business owners in the lurch. While load-shedding has impacted the broader city, Westridge residents report daily power cuts, often extending for hours after load-shedding ends in their area. The chairperson for the Mayville Community Policing Forum, Sector 1, Janus Horn, says the extended power outages are a result of ongoing illegal connections in the area.

Horn says there are 50 to 100 000 people living in Cato Crest, an informal settlement, with no formal power connection. He has long reported illegal connections feeding into the settlement – an issue which is continuing as the settlement grows.
“Here in Cato Crest, seven double-storey blocks of flats have gone up. All of those have got illegal connections,” said Horn.

While Horn has raised the issue with City officials, he says the problem is continuing.
“On Friday, [City officials] told me that we were moved onto a separate circuit to Cato Crest in 2015, but we have people making illegal connections from Manor Gardens and running them across the road. On Friday, they removed one connection, but we have so many,” Horn said.

Horn believes the illegal connections have overloaded the system, causing the power supply to trip after load-shedding.
“You can’t have all [appliances] on when load-shedding finishes because then there’s an overload on the system, and it trips the power supply. The last few months, since they have run these illegal connections, every time there’s load-shedding, our power goes off for another two to six hours afterwards. Instead of being off for two hours, we can be off for six or seven hours,” said Horn.

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For Horn, a formal supply of electricity to Cato Crest is the best solution.
“Residents in Cato Crest need electricity. We don’t find it fair that they have no power, but we don’t think we should be suffering because of illegal connections. Cato Crest must be supplied with power,” he said.

Impact on community

Horn noted that the power supply did not seem to be impacted at off-peak times.

“Somehow, we had load-shedding from 06:00–08:00, and the power came back on at 08:00 and stayed on. It is most probably because people were at school or work and their appliances were turned off. The problem is when we have load-shedding [during peak times]. It causes a trip, and the power can’t just be switched back on because there’s an overload on the system,” he said.

According to Horn, the outages are impacting residents on Bidston, Owen, Essex and Grange roads as well as Concord Avenue, Wilson Avenue, parts of Glenwood Drive and Glen Grove.

“It’s not a huge area, but I would say it affects about 100 houses,” he said. “On Saturday, power was off from about 17:00 until 23:00 – that’s six hours. Then the power went off from 02:00 until 04:00 again because of load-shedding. That’s eight hours in total. People want to be at home on the weekend and use power, and every single night, people want to cook dinner – the outages are affecting people’s lives.”

Generator costs

As a result of ongoing blackouts, Horn, who is the owner of Sicas Guesthouse on Owen Road, is spending a large sum on diesel fuel to run a generator for his guesthouse. He said his bill last month came to R68 000 to run a generator with a 600-litre tank.

“Times are tough. December was not what it should have been – mainly because the beaches were closed, and January was a lot quieter than we found in the past. Load-shedding is bad enough – for us to finance diesel costs for load-shedding is tough, but now to finance another six hours a day on top of load-shedding – that is not achievable,” he said.

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City responds

Spokesperson for eThekwini Municipality Msawakhe Mayisela confirmed that Sicas Guesthouse and Cato Crest are fed from different substations, adding that illegal connections present a challenge to service delivery.

“Illegal connections are currently one of the City’s biggest challenges that delay/disrupt service delivery. The City continues to fight against illegal connections, bypassed meters and vandalism to infrastructure through Operation Khuculula – a programme championed by the City’s Revenue Protection Branch. The City has a broad plan when it comes to the electrification of informal settlements, subject to them not being on private land, under power lines or above municipal services. Illegal connections don’t just compromise our network but also put people’s lives at risk,” said Mayisela.

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