After the residents of Reiger Park, Ramaphosa, and Chocolate Valley lived without electricity for almost two weeks because a substation in Reiger Park caught fire on August 8, the City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) restored power in all the areas on August 21.
According to the CoE spokesperson, Zweli Dlamini, the areas were left without electricity after thieves attempted to steal electricity components from the substation in Reiger Park, and in the process, it caught fire.
“We fully restored power in all the areas on Monday, although from Thursday, we have been partially powering some parts of Reiger Park.
“This was a hectic project, and we would like to thank the teams for the hard work they put into refurbishing the facility and restoring power.
“We must also thank the people for their patience, understanding and support while we were working on the project,” said Dlamini.
He added they were encouraging customers to use electricity sparingly to avoid overloading the grid, which might result in another power outage.
A resident of Reiger Park, Bronwynne van Staade, said they had a bad experience of living without electricity for 10 days.
“The metro has told our councillor that it cannot exempt us from load-shedding after we have lived so many days without electricity,” said Van Staade.
She said their food was spoiled, and they wasted a lot of money buying gas during the power outage.
“There were long queues at our local shops, with people buying gas in numbers. It was like reliving the old days. We had to buy coal to use our coal stoves. Nevertheless, I am happy that the power was restored, because now I can do my laundry with my washing machine.
“I am glad that I no longer have to ask my work colleagues to charge my cellphone and power bank for me,” she stated.
The Ward 34 Clr Edith Klassen thanked the community of Reiger Park for being patient.
“I was happy to see the power restored on Thursday,” said Klassen.
Report power outages to the Ekurhuleni Call Centre on 0860 543 000.
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