City Power completed the connection and commissioning of a new transformer at the Cleveland Substation following a fire on December 24.
The fire on the 88/11KV transformer plunged several suburbs, including Kensington, Jeppestown, Malvern, Denver, Benrose and Heriotdale, into darkness on Christmas.
City Power investigators and technicians have assessed the extent of the damage caused to the infrastructure and will conduct an investigation into the cause of the fire.
City Power CEO, Lerato Setshedi, said teams were on site shortly after the fire broke out.
“A new standby transformer was commissioned and tested positively on Christmas Day with the hope of energising it to restore power before the end of Christmas Day. However, for oil to soak in and have the transformer carry the load took longer than expected.”
At the time, teams anticipated that the new transformer will be ready by early afternoon on December 26, after which power was gradually restored to the residents.
Setshedi said that the Cleveland Substation runs at full capacity with two transformers.
When one caught fire the substation lost half of the supply load, leaving one transformer to service 50 per cent of the customers.
He added that the substation was not completely lost after the fire.
“We apologise to residents who were forced to have Christmas in darkness due to this unfortunate incident. It could have been worse had the City’s fire and the emergency teams not responded as fast as they did and ensured the fire is contained and does not damage other infrastructure at the substation,” said City Power CEO Lerato Setshedi.
A new transformer is estimated to cost between R12-million and R16-m.
