Residents can start to breathe a sigh of relief as the electricity crisis in Finsbury could be restored by this weekend.
This is according to Rand West City Local Municipality (RWCLM) spokesperson Phillip Montshiwa who said the contractors indicated that if all goes well, power should be back on in Finsbury by February 5th the latest.
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This was mentioned in a statement released – which gives an update on the work done so far to restore electricity to areas affected by cable theft recently, which plunged thousands of households into darkness.
According to Montshiwa, the work done is nearing an end.
“All the 12 metre wooden poles have been installed between Finsbury and Munic substation, except for two poles inside Munic substation. The contractors are busy planting the last two poles and as of today February 3, and they will be installing the new feeder cables from Munic substation to the new overhead line. They also installed six new medium voltage breakers inside Finsbury substation and had them commissioned. The contractor also has installed one 500 kVA miniature substation at Finsbury substation and cables connected. The contractor has installed one ring main unit (RMU) to pick up all the feeder cables to Finsbury.
The only work outstanding is to join the four Finsbury feeder cables and connect to the RMU,” said Montshiwa.
He added that this will be done today, as the contractor was busy installing new protection relays on the feeder panel which is going to feed Finsbury.
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According to Montshiwa, the contractor indicated that if all goes according to plan, they will switch the electricity on to Finsbury substation this weekend.
“The contractor has indicated if all goes to plan, they will switch on the electricity at the Finsbury substation on Saturday or latest Sunday, where after we will restore electricity in phases to different areas or streets. Rand West City Local Municipality will keep on updating the community of Finsbury and surrounding areas on the progress until the electricity has been restored.
We would also like to apologise again for the inconvenience caused to the community of Finsbury and the surrounding areas,” said Montshiwa.
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