It was only after the Express had highlighted that it was the last opportunity for CoE and its leadership to comment on the latest power outage, that feedback was received.
Despite the Express’ pleas for feedback on Monday afternoon and evening and early Tuesday morning, the below response was received by the office of the mayor and CoE as the paper went to print.
Also read: Kempton Park residents again suffer power outage
CoE spokesperson Zweli Dlamini confirmed the same 66kV oiled filled cable from Cargo to Aston manor substation failed for the second time on January 31. “About 90% of the area outage has been restored by using an alternative step down transformer from one of the substations whilst repairs on the cables are conducted. Technicians are assisting in those areas without power.
“It should be noted the CoE is preparing to replace all oiled filled cables in Kempton Park, with an estimated length of 20km. The project has been initiated and is expected to run over three financial years with a cost estimate of over R200 million.
“Having been installed over forty years ago, the network is constructed of oil insulated technology that has become close to obsolete,” said Dlamini.
Mayoral spokesperson Phakamile Mbengashe said, “We apologise and are cognizant of the amount of dissatisfaction and frustration.
“The multi-party coalition government is working on reducing the metro’s vulnerability to load-shedding, enhancing access to reliable, affordable, and sustainable electricity, and looking at incentivising pre-paid electricity systems and private electricity generation.
“The executive has instructed the administration to submit a report on the status of electrical stock to ensure that equipment is available to repair electrical faults timeously. “The energy department will explore a solar energy roll-out plan on rental stock and council-owned buildings to ensure that service delivery will not be disturbed by outages,” said Mbengashe.
“The executive has also instructed the administration to submit a report on the enforcement of service level agreement turn-around times towards maintenance and repair of utility service faults and infrastructure damage, and to hold officials accountable on responsiveness to service delivery issues in the city,” Mbengashe said.
