Thembisa residents are facing a difficult week ahead after it was announced this afternoon by Eskom that it is estimated that the time of power restoration is December 18.

Eskom stated that electricity supply to Thembisa substation has been affected due to a failed transformer that supplies the City of Ekurhuleni’s (CoE) Thembisa customers.  

Eskom submitted an application for a permit to the traffic department to transport the transformer to Thembisa substation.

“We are therefore awaiting approvals from the authorities for the permit, in order to start the supply restoration process,” Eskom stated.  

“We are engaging the CoE and we will continue to communicate as more information becomes available.”  

CoE executive mayor Ald Tania Campbell reiterated the call for calm in Thembisa, amidst the scheduled load reduction in the area.  

“On December 5, after power in Thembisa was restored following scheduled load shedding, an Eskom transformer at the Thembisa (Eskom substation) tripped and burnt down. This resulted in Eskom only having one transformer in operation at the Thembisa substation,” Campbell said.  

“The Thembisa main substation (City of Ekurhuleni) peak load is about 75MVA and the remaining Eskom transformer is 40MVA, thus it cannot feed the entire 70MVA.

“It is for this reason that CoE had to institute load reduction until the second transformer is installed and commissioned into service. Load reduction is implemented by switching off two or three substations at a time to reduce the load on a rotational basis.  This load reduction will continue until a second transformer is installed and put into service,” said Campbell.    

“My office is in constant contact with Eskom to monitor the replacement of the transformer in the Eskom substation. We will communicate the progress of this operation to the residents of Thembisa until the power is fully restored” said Campbell.