No load-shedding, only strain on sub-stations
A round-up of the latest power outages that have tested the patience of many Roodepoort residents.
Power outages have been a nightmare for many residents of Roodepoort throughout July.
The month started off with aerial bundle conductor cable being stolen on 8 July. This affected various street lights The next day, 9 July, a transformer exploded, injuring a city power technician who is still in hospital. This was a fault caused by cable theft.
Residents’ electricity was interrupted by planned maintenance on 16 July and again on 19 July as new parts were installed in the Kloofendal sub-station, which had been struggling with load management. A tripped distributor left residents still without power on 20 July.
The situation took a comical turn in some resident’s eyes on 21 July, as an Egyptian goose damaged a cable which had to be replaced. The Roodetown sub-station also tripped and affected other sub-stations that had to bear the load, such as the sub-stations on Peter, Christiaan de Wet and Ontdekkers Roads, and in Wilro Park. Cable material had to be brought in from Joburg City and technicians were working from 11am to restore the power. The lights came back on late in the evening of 21 July.
Some controversy as well as humour surrounded this outage – residents claimed that it wasn’t a goose that had caused the outage, it was due to load-shedding, and no maintenance work had been done at all.
Ward 97 councillor, Leah Knott, said in response to the load-shedding claims that she would have no reason to say a goose had damaged the cable if it never actually happened. “We don’t have load-shedding. The bird hit an earth wire causing it to snap and fall on the line below.
I have no reason to make excuses for City Power, as I don’t work for them. My function is actually to hold them accountable,” she said.
Knott added that all the substations in Region C are under extreme strain, which is why substation maintenance has been prioritised. The infrastructure also battles with long outages during planned operations and experiences problems on restoration. The budget doesn’t allow for a full revamp of all infrastructure immediately as it is an ongoing issue of neglect over 20 years. It will cost R170 billion to catch up on the infrastructure backlog.
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