City Power gives feedback about Sandy Glen mini sub
City Power responds to questions about the vandalised Sandy Glen mini sub, in Allen's Nek, where residents have been without power for weeks.
In response to the vandalism of the Sandy Glen mini substation on Van Vuuren Street on September 25, City Power gave the following response to Roodepoort Northsider’s queries.
“Since the start of the 2023/ 2024 Financial Year, Roodepoort Service Delivery Centre (SDC) has lost some 32 mini substations, of which 28 were replaced as a result of theft and vandalism. To replace one mini substation excluding labour and sundries, costs about R800 000,” stated Isaac Mangena, spokesperson for City Power.
He elaborated that mini substations in Roodepoort are being vandalised almost daily and they are unable to give an accurate timeframe of when the material can be supplied.
“The waiting period for the procurement and supply of material is anything from seven to 10 days, but with the scourge of vandalism, we sometimes wait up to three weeks for delivery,” added Mangena.
• Read the initial article here: 12 days without electricity, no light at the end of the tunnel
As an innovative approach to curbing the vandalism and theft of their infrastructure, City Power’s Roodepoort SDC management engaged on October 4 with councillors, community policing forums, security companies and residents’ associations.
“The meeting concluded positively with the primary aim of working together to ward off perpetrators who are negatively impacting our effective and essential delivery of power supply to our customers,” stated Mangena.
“With regards to the Sandy Glen mini substation, we placed the order for a mini substation in the week that it was vandalised. Today [October 5], the contractor will collect the new 500kVA mini substation from the stores and deliver it to the site for installation. While we are working speedily to restore customers who are affected by vandalism and theft, we hope that communities will come together and play a watchdog role to ward off strange people loitering around their area and also report suspicious activity,” promised Mangena.
On October 5, they had been without power for 14 days, and fortunately, their power was restored on October 6, the following day.
“Why did it have to take two weeks for our power to be restored?” asked Pretorius, after informing the Northsider that they finally had their power supply restored.
