Rainy weather brings power cuts and frustration
"The direct cause of these outages is the lack of maintenance on ageing infrastructure."
Brakpan residents are outraged after a weekend in the dark. While load-shedding has made a return, it would seem this was not the cause for the power cuts recently experienced by many.
Many took to social media to rant, and a scroll through a local service delivery social media group reveals dozens of complaints.
DA councillor for Ward 97 Brandon Pretorius told the Herald he was inundated with calls from residents from all parts of town desperately pleading for assistance as they were faced with consistent power outages.
According to him, Anzac and the Brakpan CBD were the hardest hit this past weekend with major area outages.
“Some residents have been without power for days on end. There is a resident who has been without electricity for nine days. It is clear that with the change of season, the rainfall has been the cause of most of the outages but the direct cause of these outages is the lack of maintenance on ageing infrastructure,” he said.
He urged residents to report outages as soon as possible.
“Residents should also be careful not to mistake their outages for load-shedding,” he explained.
“Any resident needing assistance is welcome to contact me directly for help.”
Power outages can be reported to the Ekurhuleni Call Centre on 0860 543 000, via Twitter @CoE_Call_Centre, email at call.centre@ekurhuleni.gov.za or via the My CoE app.
Pretorius can be contacted on 083 308 7821.
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