What has been the true cause of the several power outages experienced by many residents of Ward 97?
Weather conditions have contributed to the recent outages but Ward 97 councillor Leah Knott said it was a three-fold problem. Bad weather, cable theft, illegal connections and aged infrastructure that requires serious investment to upgrade and maintain, can be blamed.
Knott said aged infrastructure would be a focus of the new budget and certain urgent issues such as the Roosevelt substation have already been prioritised. “I’m pushing for upgrades to Honeydew and Ruimsig as these are also old and need renovations,” she added. The Lutz power station is going ahead as funds were allocated to the project during the readjustment of the budget.
“Cable theft is a huge issue in Ward 97 as are illegal connections. It’s not on the rise but has always been a problem, perhaps not logged as such all the time. We have private security companies who work with City Power in hotspots such as Ruimsig and Honeydew but they can’t be everywhere. City Power has suggested an in-house trained security team to the mayoral committee,” Knott explained
The City Power relationship management team confirmed City Power experienced a number of power supply interruptions during the rainy period recently. Most of the areas affected include Honeydew, Radiokop, Ruimsig, Poortview and Wilgeheuwel.
However, the team explained, in the past month these areas were affected as a result of six incidents of cable faults and four incidents of theft and vandalism including cable theft.
City Power encourages residents to report suspicious in the areas to its toll-free number, 080 000 2587 or the police on 10111. Customers can also follow City Power on Twitter @CityPowerjhb
