THE Ekurhuleni metro said the high number of power outages in the past eight months, as reported by the DA, was not a true reflection of the situation.
The state of the electricity distribution network should not be blamed solely for the high number of blackouts, the metro said.
This follows a statement released by the DA, according to which the city experienced 1 375 power cuts between January and August.
A statement issued by the metro said the DA did not take into account the electricity distribution network of Ekurhuleni, therefore making it an inaccurate account of the power cut situation.
“The number of power outages is directly proportional to the number of customers serviced from a specific electrical distribution network. Taking into account the electricity distribution network serviced by Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, it is not an accurate reflection to only refer to the number of outages for eight months in isolation.
“More information must be added in order to accurately reflect the efficiency of the performance of a distribution network,” Themba Gadebe, the metro’s spokesman, said.
“The metro has not been paralysed by power outages. The city has a huge electricity grid by any standards and outages occur as a result of numerous causes. It is regrettable that an image of a failed electricity grid is being portrayed, while statistics measured against national standards, indicate the exact opposite.”
The quality of the electrical energy bought and sold by the metro is monitored through Power Quality (PQ) recorders. The data recorded from these is used to monitor the quality of electrical energy bought and sold by Ekurhuleni.
The majority of these 400 PQ recorders produce data for nearly 100 per cent of the time, therefore indicating a high level of inherent system reliability in data.
The city also recorded that 100 per cent of power outages in the city were restored after 24 hours, matching that of national standards.
63 per cent of power cuts were restored within 1.5 and 3.5 hours, 88.6 per cent within 3.5 and 7.5 hours and 98.1 per cent within 7.5 and 24 hours.
According to Gadebe, the main causes of these outages included operational causes, third party causes and equipment failure, which was the major culprit, having 1 398 faults between July 2013 and June 2014.
Third party causes were the second biggest issue, which included cable theft, car accidents and damage done by contractors.
“Copper theft remained a major local and national challenge, although Ekurhuleni is successfully dealing with the theft on its electrical distribution networks. 1 182 arrests have been made since a specialist contractor was deployed. Between January and September 130 arrests were initiated and in 2013, 181 arrests were made.”
During the past 19 months, 88 accused individuals were convicted and sentenced as part of the Ekurhuleni project. These individuals received a collective jail sentence of 103 years and five months, excluding fines.
Gadebe said the municipality managed outages responsibly and followed a standard three-step procedure when dealing with cuts.
Firstly, all outages and their durations are recorded, followed by an analysis of the causes of the outages, then finally the causes are responded to through the application of resources.
“The information shown in this statement shows that Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality’s electricity distribution network is still one of the top performers in the country.”
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