This is why the lights go off
According to the spokesman for the Msukaligwa Local Municipality, Mr Mandla Zwane, the unplanned power interruptions are caused by a faulty electrical protection system.
Residents have been complaining to the Highvelder about the regular, unannounced power cuts in Nederland Park and other parts of town.
The newspaper contacted the municipality in order to get an explanation.
According to the spokesman for the Msukaligwa Local Municipality, Mr Mandla Zwane, the unplanned power interruptions are caused by a faulty electrical protection system.
“The function of the system, among others, is to divide the electricity into protection zones (transformers, distribution lines, networks and so forth).
If a fault occurs in a given zone, the zone will be isolated from the entire electricity system.
When the system is faulty, it trips the entire system instead of the affected zone,” said Mr Zwane.
According to him, the municipality is in the process of appointing an independent service provider to assess the extent of the faulty protection system and repair it.
Mr Zwane added that a technician is on standby to ensure that, when the electricity failure occurs, it is attended to in an “expeditious manner”.
The municipality apologised unconditionally for the inconvenience caused.
The Highvelder also enquired about the state of a substation situated in Adolf Schumann Street.
The substation in question had no cover, meters were hanging by their wires and it housed an ant colony.
Two weeks later, Mr Zwane replied, saying that municipal electricians were dispatched to attend to the substation and to some extent the issue had been attended to.
They hoped it would be finalised in the not too distant future.
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