Lenasia South, Ennerdale and Lawley still in dark following cable theft

Some residents from Lenasia South and surrounding areas are waking up to another day of no electricity.

Several areas were plunged into darkness early on Tuesday morning when criminals damaged infrastructure and stole about 400m of copper cable at three substations.

Residents have been without power from 6:30am.

Repairs

City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the Lunar Substation which was affected has been fully restored, after Eskom completed its repairs at Ennerdale substation where a basbar link burnt on Tuesday.

“Lunar is one of the four substations that went off, following cable theft and the subsequent burning of a basbar link. After Eskom completed its repairs, Lunar and Lenasia South Substations were expected to be restored.

“However, only Lunar got reinstated. A team of operators have been dispatched to Lunar substation, which supplies Lenasia South, to see if there’s any fault. Operators will work on supply restoration after establishing why power is still off,” Mangena said.

Mangena said electricity has been restored to some areas.

The following customers have been restored:

“Lenasia South extension 4, 7, Migson manor Finetown Mountain View, Grasmere Toll plaza, and surroundings.

ALSO READ: Cable theft plunges Lenasia South, Ennerdale and Grasmere Toll in darkness

Outages

“Meanwhile, there are still several areas supplied by Ennerdale and Hopefield substations, that are still off. Those areas are still affected by the power supply interruption caused by the theft of a 400-metre-long protection control cable,” Mangena said

Mangena added that repairs are ongoing and the team is “confident” that it could restore supply on Wednesday afternoon, despite delays caused by the rainfall.

“These are the areas that will remain off until tomorrow (Wednesday):

• Ennerdale
• Ennerdale extension 1-14
• Meriting
• Lawley 1, Lawley 2 and surroundings.

“City Power apologise for the inconvenience this causes customers and appeals for patience as work towards restoring supply continues,” Mangena said.

This is not the first time the substations have been targeted by criminals who have stolen copper cables in recent months.

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