The Herald has been inundated with calls from residents who are desperate to find out when their electricity will be switched back on. There has been a power outage in the area since Thursday, 14 November.
According to the Herald‘s sources, a transformer had to be replaced.
Gerhard Kruger, DA councillor for Wards 2 and 25 explained. “Apparently, it is an Eskom issue and they had to replace a transformer. I heard that there were problems with the cables having burned and Eskom had to replace the transformer, which was done yesterday afternoon [Thursday 21 November]. Apparently it has not been connected to the main grid and we do not know why.
Read the initial Eskom rticle here:
Eskom to cut power to Rand West due to over R230 million debt
People are very upset, but they should bear in mind that it is not a municipality issue, it is an Eskom issue.”
Victor Ramagaga, Eskom spokesperson, told the Herald that whenever there is a power outage/ problem they have to conduct a circuit audit first.
“This purposes of the audit is to find the cause of the outage or problem, because we cannot replace any equipment unless we find the root of the problem first.”
Collinda Gebhardt, one of the residents said the situation had cost her a lot of money as she had to make alternative plans to keep her household running.
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“Apparently, the transformer caught fire after the cables were stolen. Eskom workers have been working hard to fix the problem. They had to replace the whole transformer, which was a massive operation, but now Venterpos’ power has not been switched on. We are a small community and we do not understand why our power is not back on. We have lost everything; most of our groceries have gone bad.”
She added, “We cannot even do laundry and other household chores. We have to buy gas and it is costing us a lot of money.
Why are we being held to ransom like this?”
Another resident, Chantel Stoltz, said her life has been terrible the past week. She had to leave home at 4am to go to her mother’s house to take a bath.
“The food has rotten, and who is going to pay for all this? Definitely not the municipality or Eskom,” Stolz said.
