Putting an end to electrical waste
Residents have come forward saying the municipal contact numbers in the published articles were never answered, no matter how many calls were made.
Following an article published on January 16 alleging the municipality seemed unmindful of the energy crisis in the country, further complaints have been received.
Residents have come forward saying the municipal contact numbers in the published articles were never answered, no matter how many calls were made.
“For the last year, I have tried to contact the municipality regarding the lights at the top of Hill Street. There is no reason for them to be on, but they can be found burning through the night. The same issue can be seen at their super-block parking area,” said a resident, who wished to remain anonymous.
Allegedly, not one of the resident’s calls were answered.
Strategic Executive Director of Electrical Services, Lindile Zincume, said that if residents could not reach the contact number provided, they should e-mail complaints and concerns to electric@newcastle.gov.za.
“The number which was given is a number that has been in place for a number of years and this is the number which is always used to report faults and receive inquiries from customers. It is regretted that some of our clients were not able to get through to report their complaints,” he said.
He continued: “In many cases, areas of lights must be switched on, so as to avoid inrush currents, which could lead to cable faults.”
Since the last complaint, the department has taken steps to switch on the lights at a later stage through the use of the timing systems and day-night switches.
“At the time of writing this response there was not one light that was burning during the day in the municipality’s license area. The reason for this is that all complaints that were received were attended to.”
However, he admitted there would be incidents in the future, as this was unavoidable, but he believed through collaboration between the community and the technical teams of the municipality, this could be avoided.
According to Mr Zincume, additional teams have been tasked with monitoring the town daily to ensure that Newcastle still receives one of the best scores in the country for electricity losses.
“The municipality has received an additional 7 (seven) electricians at no cost to the municipality, which are sponsored by the Development Bank of South Africa for a period of two years,” he said. “We believe this will help to maintain Newcastle’s high standard of electrical supply.”
A possible bump in the road may be due to the fact that Eskom has ditched its ‘keep the lights on policy at whatever cost’ policy and has advised residents to brace themselves for more regular load-shedding.
“Our customers are encouraged to use electricity efficiently,” concluded Mr Zincume.
Newcastle Mayor, Afzul Rehman, explained that although there was always the possibility of a black out, the Newcastle Municipality would be working doubly hard to stop this, and keep the effects on residents minimal.
