Standard of electrical work causes great concerns
“I was informed by the electricians to keep emergency services on call as the amount of electricity running through my property was life-threatening,” said Meggersee.
After her son was almost electrocuted, Highway Gardens resident Jennifer Meggersee raised concerns about the standard of work done at an electrical box outside her property.
On October 12, Meggersee’s day changed unexpectedly when she heard her 16-year-old son screaming from the bathroom.
“It sounded like he was screaming for his life.”
ALSO READ: #IMadeMyMark: What you need to know about Election Day
After rushing to find out what had happened, Meggersee found her son crouched after he had been shocked while preparing his shower.
Unsure of what to think, Meggersee curiously touched one of the taps in the shower herself and felt what she described as a ‘zing’.
“I think because of the way my son tried to turn on the tap he got a good shock, but it hurt him.”
Meggersee said luckily her son only had a blood blister on his hand from where the electrical current had made contact with him.
“The first thing I thought was that there was a problem with the geyser.”
After rushing her son to the doctor, Meggersee phoned an electrician to determine what the problem could be.
Meggersee said when electricians took readings with voltmeters of the electricity being fed into her property, they discovered it was above the standard amount.
As her property is three-phase, two of the lines had readings of 397 volts, while the third had a reading of 1 440 volts.
“I was informed by the electricians to keep emergency services on call as the amount of electricity running through my property was life-threatening,” said Meggersee.
Besides the unusually high voltmeter readings, Meggersee’s gardener informed her that water that came out of the property’s exterior taps was heated.
It was explained to her that this was because the electricity running through her house was heating the property’s pipes.
Before the electricians left her property, Meggersee alerted them to an unusual smell in her house and asked them what it could be.
After searching for the source, the electricians discovered the pipes in Meggersee’s bathroom were heating up and melting one of the rubber drainage pipes.
“We opened the vanity and there was just smoke coming from the cupboard, so to prevent it from happening elsewhere, the earth was cut.”
After the electricians informed Meggersee of the danger, she logged a call with the City of Ekurhuleni (CoE).
After phoning the Edenvale customer care centre, Meggersee was informed she falls under the jurisdiction of Germiston.
“The man who worked at the Edenvale offices assisted me and escalated the matter to the Germiston offices,” said Meggersee.
Although CoE sent a team to assess the situation on October 12, Meggersee said they could not access the electrical box as the cyber lock was tampered with.
She believes the lock was damaged by a community member whose power had been disconnected and who wanted access to the electrical box.
On October 13, CoE’s team returned and were able to reopen the electrical box.
After digging around the electrical box, CoE electricians discovered a portion of the cables running from the municipal box was not separated.
“I was told everything was live because of the way the electrical work had been done previously; none of the cables had been separated.
“Whoever did the original work or whoever signed off on it needs to be held accountable. It is horrifying to know that death passed by so close to us,” said Meggersee.
Although the incident left the family shaken, Meggersee thanked the CoE team and staff from ARM Electrical and Plumbing for assisting her.
A request for comment was sent to CoE on October 20, requesting comment by 14:00 on October 22.
At the time of going to print, no comment had been received.
Also follow us on:
