Residents are unhappy with an electricity cable installed by City Power which hangs over Pritchard Street in Johannesburg North.
This was done as a temporary solution by City Power due to an underground cable fault in December last year.
City Power still cannot say when a permanent solution will be implemented.
The cable is about 3.5m above the road and this was only after it was lifted higher by City Power because trucks could not pass under it.
“Every time we open a new call or fault on City Power’s website, they close it immediately,” claimed resident Richard Carr.
“So we do not know what to do anymore. The cable is live and in the open so it would be very easy for someone to be electrocuted. Even the substation box is unsecured.”
Resident Margot Fenner said she had seen her logged faults closed, and had been contacted by City Power subsequent to Randburg Sun’s investigation, to be told that this was because a temporary solution was in place.
Ward 101 councillor Ralf Bittkau said the easy access to the cable also made it a target for thieves.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena could not confirm when a permanent cable would be installed.
“The fault required a test technician to run tests, identify the fault and do repairs, which could take a while depending on the complexity of the fault,” he said.
“At the time, the test technicians had high call volumes. The technicians on site had two options – either inform the customer to wait for the next available testing technician to become available or offer the customer a temporary solution which was to restore power and submit a request for a test technician to assist with a permanent solution.”
He added the test technicians were currently working through all outstanding requests and would soon be available to work on a permanent solution.
“To put the customer at ease, we called the resident [Fenner] and explained our plan of action for a permanent solution.”
Regarding why residents’ logged faults were continuously closed, Mangena said, “Where a temporary solution is done and power supply is restored, calls are closed on the systems and recorded on a temporary solution list that is revisited when material and resources for a permanent fix becomes available.”
When asked why the electricity box was unsecured and cables were so easily accessible, he said he would follow up on this.
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