LARGE parts of eThekwini Municipality’s electricity network were severely affected by yesterday’s (10 October) heavy rain causing widespread tripping on the network.
According to a statement by eThekwini’s Media Office, a number of affected areas were remotely restored on alternate feeds.
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Mondi, Sapref, Waterfall and Gyles Substations were among those affected on the high voltage network but electricity is now back on. However, this means that these networks are operating at risk and could be without power for extended periods should these circuits experience further faults.
Portions of the supply to Metrorail and Transnet were still off at midnight and municipal staff were reported on site, working around the clock, to restore power through alternative networks.
“The situation was exacerbated by road closures on the M4 and N2 as faults crews could not get to Lotus Park and Durban South Substations to restore tripped circuits yesterday,” read the statement.
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There were more than 500 faults reported since yesterday, many of which affects large areas. This number kept increasing as the day progressed and the heavy rain continues.
Faults teams responded and worked on switching customers to alternate networks in a bid to reduce the number of customers that are affected by the outages.
The affected areas were:
Westville South, Kwanyuswa, Mariannhill, Dassenhoek, Zwelibomvu, Mobeni ,Intake/Demat, Jacobs, Wentworth, Hillary, Lindelani, Umhlanga, Waterloo, Newlands East, Osindisweni, Mt Moreland, Okford, Prospecton, Athlone Park and Glenwood.
eThekwini Municipality’s Electricity Contact Centre is currently heavily back-logged and customers are urged to report their faults via the SMS line, 083 700 0819, e-mail: custocare@elec.durban.gov.za or via the website, www.durban.gov.za (go to online services), should they have difficulty via the toll free number 080 1313 111.
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