The electricity interruptions on Tuesday, November 8 was due to cable theft and the tripping of power.
While the rain came down in torrents, some residents in B-substation were without power since 23:00 the previous evening.
Lekwa Municipality indicated that a cable was stolen next to the R50 Road towards Early Bird.
According to Lekwa, material was sorted to replace and repair the cable. Information however, pointed out that six cables were stolen.
Several areas were impacted including Kosmospark, Florapark, parts of upper town, Standerton Water Treatment Plan, Early Bird, Correctional Services, a part of Ext 8 and the J-line.
The municipality said water supply to the treatment plant was redirected to the P-line to not disrupt the supply.
A municipal update, later on, read that the team will begin digging a trench to expose the 33kv cable.
The parts were expected to only arrive on Wednesday, November 9. An update on a WhatsApp-group in Ward 10 kept track of work at A-substation.
According to the post, a 33kv breaker was installed and current transformer and relay installed and tested.
Electricity was duly restored at A-substation.
As regards work at B-substation, joints were done and the waited-on parts arrived on November 9.
Alberto Franco, DA-councillor, was also on-site.
A team was preparing to be on site as soon as the parts arrived and according to the post, they worked through the night until 05:00.
The Standerton Advertiser contacted Franco on Friday, November 11 in connection with the outage.
“Companies in town have lost millions of rands,” he said.
“Astral is now putting a security guard 24/7 on-site and will also repair the fence.”
The councillor added that the timeline of 17:00 for restoring the power was correct, but a decision was taken on the ground to place the cables in steel pipes.
These pipes were welded to the structure to make it more difficult for attempts at stealing. According to him, it took 35 minutes per cable to secure it to the structure.
“I hope the public will understand why electricity was only restored later on,” he concluded.
The newspaper has published more than one article the past year about incidents of cable theft and vandalism.
The danger of electrocution at open substations proved spot-on since one man was electrocuted at an open substation in Baumann Street in August, and another at an open substation in the industrial area.
Meyerville-residents have also felt the brunt of power interruptions.
Lekwa urged the community previously to report cable theft at the nearest police station, saying its cost them millions of rands to replace.
The Standerton Advertiser sent a WhatsApp-message to Thando Nkosi, communications officer at Lekwa, on Thursday, November 10 to furnish statistics on cable theft.
No reply was forthcoming at the time of going to press. It is not over until the fat lady sings as plumbers damaged a cable at B-substation on Friday.
Wilma Venter, Freedom Front Plus-councillor, received complaints from locals and notified the electrical department at about 10:00.
Streets that were affected were Charl Cilliers, Kruger, Von Bachström, as well as the Standerton Hospital, fire department and traffic department.
An assessment of the damage will be done and the damaged cable repaired.
