No answers to seven-day power failure
Eskom did not give its residents or councillors a proper reason for the power outage in Marburg.
Most parts of Marburg and Umbango were without electricity for several days. A fault was immediately logged by residents last Wednesday; however, by Thursday evening, residents helped Eskom to obtain a TLB in Chelsea Road to repair a broken transformer.
Businessman Denver Pillay loaned a TLB and floodlights to Eskom technicians to complete the work at night. Electricity in most parts of Marburg was restored last Friday morning, but this excluded areas in Umbango, which only had electricity restored on Tuesday this week.
An Umbango resident said: “The job took half an hour to fix on Tuesday, and we waited seven days to have our power restored. This is a total disgrace,” she said.
Another resident, Sivy Kalkapersad, said, “Eskom’s lack of a satisfactory response is unacceptable. We have to contend with not having a proper bath, hygiene challenges and food perishing. Those of us with medical conditions are without technology to assist us with our challenges. Public representatives, councillors and residents, no matter how many times they reported the fault to Eskom, they did not get answers. “
According to one resident, it was a total lack of communication from Eskom and a complete disregard for basic human rights.
Ward 17 councillor Ajith Rajaram said Eskom’s office for customer care on the South Coast is closed. A customer care line booth is situated outside the Eskom offices in Lind Road, Marburg. “With regards to the power outage, I, as a councillor who reports back to residents, was not informed on any progress.”
The Herald requested information on the outage but failed to get proper feedback from Eskom. Their first reason for the outage was a storm. On Monday, Eskom’s media desk said that the technical team experienced access problems to the network that affected areas in Marburg. To date, the Herald has not received information on what caused the power failure.
Eskom’s media desk issued the following on customer care and the way forward on reporting queries:
It is important to note that Eskom no longer has hubs or customer centres. All queries are handled through online channels or the contact centres.
Eskom encourages customers and the public to use the self-service channels to report faults and incidents which may pose danger to them.
1. To report power outages, use Alfred, Our Chatbot https://alfred.eskom.co.za/chatroom/
2. For a quick and easy communication with Eskom, use one of the digital channels or experience the upgraded contact centre Telephony system! Share call number: 08600 (Eskom) or 08600 37566
3. For account balances, meter reading submissions, and to report power outages, please use the MyEskom Customer app or CS Online: www.csonline.co.za
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