More than 28 Croydon residents have been left feeling helpless after a power surge on May 29 left them with thousands of Rands worth of damages.
The City of Ekurhuleni claimed it could not be held liable.
“The power went off and kept tripping,” a resident, who wished to remain anonymous, told Express. According to her, some of the affected houses were on Blende Avenue.
Her damage alone included the loss of a laptop, modem, oven, fridge, microwave, an alarm and a printer. Other residents’ also suffered damage to their appliances.
As the surge was due to a break-in at a substation, the metro said they could not be held accountable.
According to an email sent to the residents by claims technician Simphiwe Khumalo, the main neutral conductor and fuses for the electricity supply to the neighbourhood were stolen.
“In light of the theft, the claim will not be entertained,” his email, supplied to Express by the resident, read.
“Any action taken against the municipality will be vigorously defended.”
Ward councillor Simon Lapping told Express that although “the municipality is not always truthful”, they cannot be blamed for the surge if theft was involved.
“When negligence, such as unqualified personnel, can be proven, residents will be able to claim.”
Spokesperson for the municipality Temba Gadebe advised that residents install surge-arresting devices at the point of supply or point of use for sensitive equipment.
“To prohibit break-ins at the substation in the future, the City is securing the substation through the deployment of metro police and security guards,” Gadebe added.
“To provide a lasting solution, anti-theft monitoring and alert technology is currently being considered.”
Croydon residents are no strangers to power surges. An Express article dating back to 2016 reported more than R10 000’s damage in the area. The residents recently formed a WhatsApp group called “Power Surge Damage”. It already has 94 members.
