Residents from areas such as Ruimsig, Randparkridge, Witpoortjie, Boskruin, Honeydew, Eldoradopark and Ennerdale have experienced power outages over the course of the past week.
These outages are the direct result of ageing infrastructure and cable theft made worse by third-party trenching which damages existing cables used for power supply.
In response to this, the City has taken the following steps to try remedy the immediate situation:
| Area Affected | Cause of power outage | Mitigation |
| Randpark Ridge/Boskruin | 1. Cables stolen from the Beyers Substation.
2. In addition, three cables were damaged by third-party contractors working in the area. |
1. Power is being supplied to the area from an alternate cable.
2. Stolen cables are in the process of being replaced. 3. Additional security has been put in place. 4. Discussion are being held with contractors who damaged the cables. |
| Witpoortjie | 33kV Cables were stolen between two substations. | 1. Power have been restored after 36 hours.
2. Security around infrastructure has been increased |
| Witpoortjie | Cable Theft | 1. Restoration of power in progress
2. Security around infrastructure has been increased |
| Honeydew – Ruimsig | Both outages due to cable failures. | 1. Faulty cables have been restored.
2. Power restored. |
| Ennerdale /Lawley North | 1. Overloading of the network was caused by illegal connections.
2. Eskom Power failure during this period |
1. Security around infrastructure has been increased.
2. Illegal connections have been removed. |
| Eldorado Park 88/11kV | Outages due to cable theft and vandalised equipment. | Power restored. |
In a bid to find long term solutions to our existing challenges, the City has taken the following steps to date:
- Council has voted in favour of a review of the current wayleave approval and a number of private fibre optic cabling contractors have agreed to halt any further trenching until we can agree on a way forward;
- In an effort to proactively combat cable theft, City Power is looking to invest in aluminium cables which are less valuable on the black market. This will discourage cable thieves attempting to steal these cables; and
- City Power is also currently looking into upgrading the 100 KW transformers in order to accommodate higher electricity demand.
It must be said that the City has inherited a massive infrastructure backlog – in some cases, cables used to supply power were first put down in the 1930’s.
Unfortunately, the previous administration’s response to this was to roll out costly generators instead of addressing the demand for electricity overloading our infrastructure.
Adding to the City’s woes, the previous administration spent R1.6 billion, out of a budgeted R460 million, on new metering devices. This is money that should have been spent on upgrading and securing existing infrastructure and substations.
While I understand resident’s frustration, I implore residents to bear with us as we do our best to tend to these outages and find a more lasting solution.
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