The household voltage suddenly dropped and increased about two years ago when the metro installed a cable from the Welgedacht sub-station to Bakerton as an additional backup supply.
It is believed some residents lost electrical appliances due to the voltage being 73V higher than the average.
Resident Kobus Steyn said the average household voltage should be between 220V and 240V, but unfortunately the voltages sometimes drops to 140V and rises to 311V.
Themba Gadebe, spokesperson for the metro, said the main supply become faulty from the current Eskom supply.
The consumers would be without power until the problem was repaired and therefore an additional back-up supply to the area was installed.
He said Second Avenue is fed by multiple substations and the one causing the drop of voltage was caused by the increased loading in the area.
“The relevant substation’s tap changer was stepped up to increase the voltage and the problem was sorted about two weeks ago.”
Steyn confirmed an electrician was working at the substation two weeks ago, however, the next day the voltage dropped to 140V again.
Gadebe said an electrician found a faulty cable within a steel pipe causing an electrical shortage and posed no danger to anyone.
Steyn said his electricity account went up due to the low voltage as it takes a kettle four times longer to boil than normal.
He wants to know who is going to carry the costs of their broken electrical appliances caused by the voltage problems.
Gadebe said consumers will have to claim from their insurance companies for the alleged damages and the metro will only take responsibility for the damages to the cable.
“The problem was found recently and has been fixed,” he added.
About whether it is fair to the residents, Gadebe said this is one of the common challenges in the energy sector and they are dealing with it speedily.
I am staying in Second avenue, Welgedaght and the electricity is still very low between 6-8 in the morning and 5-8 in the afternoon. Sometimes we must toast 2-3 times before the toast is brown and the kettle cooks so long that we must put it by ourself off.