Kempton Park family spends festive season in the dark

One Kempton Park family did not have a joyful festive season and spent 21 days without power over the holidays.

“What was supposed to be a 48-hour turnaround time turned into more than 20 days in the dark over the festive season for us.

There was no load-shedding during this time or any other grid issues.

“The CoE showed a complete lack of care for us as individuals,” said Duncan Ogilvie.

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“We went through Christmas and New Year without electricity, and all our food spoiled. What a way to spend the festive season, thanks to Ekurhuleni.

“Over the festive season, with no load-shedding, no major breakdowns and no major power interruptions, the CoE could have really made a plan for a single house,” he said.

“We couldn’t mow the grass, didn’t have hot water and having children made it more difficult,” Ogilvie said.

“Electricity and running water is a basic right, as promised by the city. I am a paying citizen of this community.”

Ogilvie said the power to his house went off on December 17.

“It just never came back on. We thought that was load-shedding, but we saw the schedule, and load-shedding was not scheduled. We logged a complaint, and they said it would take four to 48 hours to resolve the matter.

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“The next day, technicians arrived and switched the power on at the box, but 20 minutes later, it tripped again,” he added.

Ogilvie said he tried to log another complaint, but the call centre agent told him he could not because his initial complaint was still open.

“I called the call centre, and they said they would escalate it. Technicians arrived the next day and again switched the power on at the box, only for it to trip again an hour later,” he said.

“I told the technicians not to flip the switch because there was clearly a problem. They can’t just flip the switch on and expect the problem to be resolved if it keeps tripping.”

Ogilvie said the technicians told him his house probably had a problem.

He called out a private electrician, who inspected the wiring in the house and told him everything, including his cable, was perfect.

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“The technicians came again after days of calling because I couldn’t log another complaint as the first one was never closed. They arrived on December 22 after five days of us not having power,” he said.

“They tested and confirmed my house was perfect and their line had a fault. The technicians marked the ground where they found the ‘issue’ and switched the power on, only for it to trip again three hours later.

“They never returned again, and I still could not log a complaint,” he said.

Ogilvie said he also tried to get help from the ward councillors, who responded that they had escalated the matter.

“On January 6, representatives from the municipality contacted one councillor and said they could not reach us.

“At this point, it had been 19 days without electricity, and the technicians promised to sort out the issue in four to 48 hours.

“With all this misfortune, we were blessed by family to go away and join them on holiday for a little while because they did not want to see us go through New Year without power.

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“When we returned, there still was no power. “We are very disappointed and upset about how we spent our holiday. It’s not how we wanted to close off the year or start a new year,” said Crysten Ogilvie.

“We could only hope they find the fault, especially with our children home for the school holidays,” she said.
“It was horrible buying food, only for it to go rotten.”

Ward Clr Amanda Davison said she was made aware of the situation faced by the Ogilvie family.

“I contacted various engineers and escalated the matter to the head of the department and the city manager. On January 5, I received an update from the engineer that it was a cable fault,” said Davison.

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She said she had consistently been in contact with the department regarding the situation.

On January 6, Duncan Ogilvie confirmed the electricity supply to his house had been restored.

The Kempton Express sent an enquiry to the CoE on January 5, requesting comment by January 8.
At the time of going to print, we had received no comment.