Power surge fries residents’ belongings
ATHOL - Athol resident Ilse Hahn has been greatly affected by a recent power surge in her home.
She said repairs done to a power line by City Power near her house caused a power surge which destroyed a number of appliances in her home.
City Power had put the power off in the area with no prior notice. “I had gone to work and my brother said that they switched on the power, but lights and plugs in the house were making a humming sound so he switched everything off,” she said.
“So I called City Power and they came out to my house and they noticed that, like on every plug, there are two ground and one neutral. They forgot to connect the neutral so I had 396 volts rushing through my 250 volt house.”
After the power surge, a number of Hahn’s electrical appliances including her electric garage door, a few lights and her brand new refrigerator were completely ruined. She said she estimated damage was about R60 000.
City Power had not responded about the incident at the time of going to press.
