Major power outage plunges Johannesburg south into darkness

A widespread power outage has plunged many areas in the south of Johannesburg into darkness.

Johannesburg’s power utility City Power said at 7.50pm that it was aware of a widespread outage affecting a substation in Johannesburg south and that the outage was caused by a suspected line trip from the Orlando Switching Station.

Frustrated residents

Frustrated residents took to social media X (formerly Twitter) to voice their frustrations about not having power.

“Naturena, Meredale, Kibler Park, Mondeor, Ridgeway, Eldorado Park, Lenasia, Freedom Park, Braamfontein, Bosmont, Cleremont, Auckland Park, Devland, Newlands, Riverlea, Hursthill, Westdene, Northcliff is out,” Ash_killa (@Ashkilla2) posted with a GIF asking what is going on.]

Naturena, Meredale, Kibler Park, Mondeor, Ridgeway, Eldorado Park, Lenasia, Freedom Park, Braamfontein, Bosmont, Cleremont, Auckland Park, Devland, Newlands, Riverlea, Hursthill, Westdene, Northcliff is out. pic.twitter.com/3Sk6MURR6x

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— Ash_killa (@Ashkilla2) May 9, 2024

“City Power, is this a total blackout in Johannesburg south?” Bhekithemba Njoko (@Bhekithemb14834) asked.

City Power is this a total black out in Johannesburg south ?

— Bhekithemba Njoko (@Bhekithemb14834) May 9, 2024

City Power said a team of operators has been dispatched to investigate the cause of the line trip.

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Some of the following substations and areas they feed are believed to have been affected by the trip:

• Hursthill substation
• Eikenhof substation
• Mondeor substation
• Industria substation
• Pennyville substation
• Mayville substation
• Nirvana substation

Outage affects Rand Water operations

Compounding the situation, City Power also said that the outage affects operations at the Rand Water Board.

“Eikenhof substation, which feeds one of the Rand Water facilities, is among a list of substations that are off,” City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said.

Johannesburg Water said the systems impacted include the Commando System (which comprises Brixton, Hursthill and Crosby), Randburg, Roodeport, Soweto and Crown Gardens.

“Johannesburg Water technical teams are actively monitoring the situation and updates will be provided to affectec customers as they become available.”

City Power said it will inform customers of the cause of the trip and the next course of action as soon as operators arrive on site.

“We apologise for the massive inconvenience caused. The estimated time of restoration will be communicated in the following updates,” Mangena said.

Eldorado Park outage

Meanwhile, earlier on Thursday morning, the Eldorapark Park Substation tripped after a minor fire incident damaged the marshalling kiosk.

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At 6.45pm, City Power said the work to restore parts of Eldorado Park was still ongoing, with a team of protection technicians on site rewiring the marshalling kiosk.

“While that is underway, another team is still running tests on the transformer to check if it was impacted by the flashed kiosk,” Mangena said.

The power utility said it restored power to several areas fed by the Nancefield and Nirvana substations, including Eldos South, Klipspruit, Kliptown, Devland, Nancefield Industrial, Freedom Park, Joshco, Joburg Water, Bushkoppies, Olifantsvlei treatment plants, Coca-Cola, Eldorado Park North, and Freedom Park.

However, areas from Eldorado Park Extensions 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and parts of 9, will remain off until repairs to the damaged structure are fixed.

“The work of rewiring the kiosk could take some time, but customers will be kept informed on developments. The estimated time of restoration will be provided in the later updates,” City Power said.

“We apologise for the inconvenience caused, but we are in constant contact with customers and local councillors on the progress of the repairs and restoration plans.”

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