Power faults after load shedding cause havoc for Joburg residents

Johannesburg’s City Power has been crippled by rampant power faults this week, leading to a surge in outages, particularly in areas such as Alexandra, Randburg, and Hursthill.

For residents in parts of Randburg, electricity has tripped every time after being load shed this week, with residents complaining they have had more hours of darkness than electricity this week.

The power utility reported stolen cables and stolen oil supplies as the cause of some of the faults earlier this week, but repairs have been conducted, but constant tripping of electricity has been experienced, particularly in the Randburg area.

City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena was contacted by phone but did not respond to repeated calls.

Eskom has also ramped up load shedding this week, initially at Stage 4 at the start of the week, now up to Stage 6.

City Power said in a statement on Twitter that they had power outages affecting Alexandra residents after a cable fault was detected on Monday, tripping the electricity supply from the Alexandra substation.

“Investigations revealed that it was caused by a faulty Pole Mounted Transformer,” the city utility said.

They said repairs commenced on Wednesday, but the transformer needed replacing.

“The team has collected the new Pole Mounted Transformer at the main store this morning. Repairs are done and the transformer is ready for restoration.

“Our resources will be restored after load shedding,” they said.

In another area of Alexandra serviced by the Rooth 11kv distributor, an overhead line snapped, causing outages on 13th - 16th Avenue.

Repairs here and at the Vezinyawo Transit Camp, where a similar fault was experienced, are expected to start only on Friday.

In Randburg, some areas such as Boskruin, Bromhof, Sonneglans. Ferndale, and surrounding areas, experienced a fault after the 4.30pm loadshedding.

Power has since been restored, an hour before the area is expected to have another four-hour bout of load shedding between 8 pm and midnight.

Randburg reported trips caused by cable faults at the Houtkoppen Substation, the Northriding 11kv Substation, which initially tripped on Monday due to an earth fault, affecting Kyasand, Hoogland, Northriding and Boundary Road.

The area has been gripped by repeated faults since Monday.

In Bryanston East, the 6.6k Substation experienced low voltage on the circuit and a team was expected to attend to the matter.

City Power has reminded residents that no repairs could take place during scheduled load shedding as they were unable to conduct tests and locate faults during that time.

Meanwhile, City Power said key customers, essential services, and select businesses would soon be excluded from scheduled power cuts.

Joburg’s Infrastructure MMC Councillor Jack Sekwaila said since June, they had gradually tried to maintain a favourable business environment in Johannesburg by exempting some industries.

Hospitals such as the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital, and Charlotte Maxeke Hospital are exempt.

"We recognise the essential role played by these institutions in our community. In addition to health facilities, we have expanded the list to include other essential services such as water infrastructure, data centres, and even certain businesses," Mangena told the City’s Joburg.gov portal.

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