PTA east power to be restored ‘soon’

The blaze that rendered the Wapadrand substation inoperable last Monday has had dire implications for residents and business owners in the affected areas, Pretoria East Rekord reports.

Feeling the pinch the most were the small businesses that had to make alternative plans to keep their enterprises running while the power was down.

READ MORE: Repairing Pretoria substation could cost R80m

Adbul Albdeek of Habibi hairdresser in Silver Oaks said he lost R15 000 during the week and spent R3 500 buying a power generator to keep his business open.

Chinelle van Niekerk of La-Di-Da Doggy spa said she had to turn some clients away.

“I normally work on 40 to 60 dogs per day but on Tuesday I worked on only six and I had to send some regular clients away.”

Van Niekerk said she however appreciated that the repair work had taken only a week instead of a month, “whose impact would have been more adverse, and stressful”.

Economist Dawie Roodt said the smaller businesses that didn’t have generators suffered the most during an outage, and this did not bode well for the local economy.

Image: Pretoria East Rekord

“I know a few businesses that are now going off the grid because the outages and cost of power are just too much, coupled with the incompetence of Eskom, and looking at the affected area there are a number of small businesses that are really feeling the pinch.”

Residents also complained about food going bad during the week-long outage, with some having to take their food to friends and family not affected by the power outage.

Faerie Glen resident Dala Shingange said he had to move for the week due to the outage.

“I had to pack most of the food in my fridge and go stay with my sister for the week.”

Tshwane MMC for utility services Darryl Moss said people were still free and welcome to claim third-party damages due to the outage.

He said the repairs to the station could cost the metro up to R80 million.

The cause of the fire that razed the substation was as yet unknown.

Meanwhile, residents who are still without power in some parts of Pretoria east have been assured that power would be restored “soon”.

Photo: City of Tshwane

Power was set to be restored by Sunday midnight, but faulty circuit breakers delayed the process, leaving Faerie Glen in the dark, according to Tshwane MMC for utility services Darryl Moss.

“The regional team is busy attending to the three-ring cable faults on Koedoeberg network. Board A (fed from transformer R) had a technical setback, but has been resolved. It will be finalised today (Monday),” he said.

Moss said the team was monitoring the load and customers were advised to switch off non-essential appliances.

Ward 44 councillor Ernst Botha said a team of CPF members and security companies was dispatched to patrol areas affected on Sunday to make sure no cables were stolen.

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