Power restored after mass outage
The only outstanding major power outage is in Soshanguve, where some parts of the township are still without electricity following an incident of theft and vandalism.
Tshwane experienced a series of power outages, which plunged most parts of the metro into darkness on Thursday afternoon.
Tshwane spokesperson Selby Bokaba said the first outage was experienced around lunchtime when a 132kV line at the Bellom Substation tripped.
He stated that the trip was caused by an explosion of a red-phase cable arrestor at the substation.
“The Skinner Street, River and Edmond substations, which are fed by the Bellom Substation, were also affected,” said Bokaba.
He said this left the CBD, Union Buildings, Arcadia, Sunnyside, Hatfield, Steve Biko Hospital and many other areas without power supply.
According to Bokaba, technicians were dispatched and supply was restored on Friday morning.
“In the evening, while the team was working on the Bellom Substation, another explosion took place at the Kwagga Infeed Substation,” said Bokaba.
The Kwagga Substation supplies a sizeable number of substations, including Atteridgeville, Pretoria North, The Orchards, Rosslyn, Soshanguve, Pretoria CBD, Pumulani, Waltloo and others.
Bokaba said another team of technicians was immediately dispatched to that substation.
He stated repairs were completed within a reasonable time and that the power supply was restored around 03:00.
“The city is also pleased to inform its customers that the Pyramid Substation, which was gutted by fire last Wednesday, October 2, has now been energised,” said Bokaba.
Bokaba said the power supply has been restored to all the customers who were affected.
He urged locals who are still without power to follow the normal reporting process.
“The only outstanding major power outage is in Soshanguve where some parts of the township are still without electricity following an incident of theft and vandalism at the Block X Substation yesterday (October 10) affecting Block P, X and the entire Block Y,” said Bokaba.
He explained that Tshwane strongly condemned these acts of theft and vandalism and apologised profusely to the affected communities for the inconvenience caused.
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On a positive note, according to Bokaba, technicians who have been on site since yesterday, have managed to install three Medium Voltage switchgear units.
“They are now re-routing the cables into the newly installed units.”
He said the estimated time for restoration has still not yet been determined.
Bokaba added that further updates will be communicated as and when there are developments.
“The city is once more apologising to all our affected customers for the inconvenience caused by these interruptions.”
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