24 hours and counting without power

JOHANNESBURG SOUTH – Residents were left without power and answers from City Power on February 26 about why two transformers exploded and why their technicians failed to adequately assess the damage.

Ormonde residents in some streets woke up at 04:00 on February 26 after hearing a loud bang to find that they were without electricity. Ward 54 Cllr Sergio Dos Santos revealed the sound to have been due to a transformer exploding.

Some residents told a reporter that another loud bang followed the explosion. A man who was in the group admitted to have fired a warning shot at suspects fiddling with the damaged transformer. The men escaped in a white bakkie.

Following reports by residents to City Power, three technicians were dispatched to assess the extent of the damage and what material would be needed to repair the transformer and restore power to residents.

Dos Santos, after receiving further reports from residents and after the COURIER called him for comment, he immediately got in contact with City Power to find out why technicians had assessed the situation and left the transformer gaping open, asking when it was going to be resolved.

Dos Santos explained: “Technicians came back to collect materials. They are coming back to work on restoration.”

City Power only notified subcontractors at 15:00 about the explosion in Ormonde, causing the delay in their response to replacing the transformer. Another hindrance to the subcontractors after they checked the damage was that technicians had failed to provide all the materials needed to complete the job.

These technicians also failed to open the mini substation at the scene as they would have discovered that it had also exploded. Ormonde residents remain without power on February 27 even though the first transformer was successfully restored, because the second mini substation has two damaged cables which ripped apart during the explosion.