Braamfontein fire: City Power urges patience as it tries to restore power supply to areas

City Power is gradually restoring electricity supply to areas affected by the Braamfontein underground fire that occurred last week.

The fire was allegedly triggered by cable theft.

Three hundred metres of cable were stolen, which allegedly led to the Johannesburg M1 fire.

ALSO READ: 300 metres of cable stolen in Joburg M1 fire, as routes on and off highway closed

Johannesburg electricity outages

Residents in surrounding areas were urged to bare with City Power as it switches off power for less than 30 minutes as part of efforts to fix supply to those affected by the M1 tunnel fire.

ALSO READ: Over R30 million needed to repair damage on M1 bridge, says City of Joburg

According to the entity, the intermittent power cuts are due to cables being increasingly connected and livening up additional feeder-boards. Residents were asked to be calm and refrain from calling City Power to ask about the outages.

In the interim, people in the following areas have been asked to disconnect household appliances:

1. Jorrison Street
2. Simmons Street
3. Jorrison & Wessels Street
4. Ameshoff Melle Street
5. Jorrisson & De Beer Street
6. Velle Street
7. Biccard & Jorrison Street
8. Summit House Jorisson Street
9. Convocation house
10. Voortrekker Pers
11. Cylon Parking Ground Simmons

Progressive repairs

Areas that have gone without power since the fire include Parktown, Newtown, Braamfontein, the Johannesburg CBD, and surrounding regions.

The utility’s spokesperson Isaac Mangena said approximately 70% of power has been restored to these areas so far.

Mangena said City Power is returning supply in phases to avoid overloading the grid.

ALSO READ: WATCH: Cutter, cellphone and 200 degrees heat: Inside the fire that darkened Joburg

“This is part of the continuous efforts that are unfolding parallel to the work of replacing the burnt and stolen cables, which will admittedly take a bit longer to complete. A new 88KV (kilovolt) cable has been laid inside the 1.2-kilometre tunnel beneath the M1 highway in Braamfontein,” Mangena said.