Percy Steward mini substation: The good and bad news
After 10 days without electricity in parts of Rangeview, the municipality has announced there will be electricity if there are no more delays.
The community from Rangeview recently had a small taste of what life during a complete blackout would be like. This was no experiment but rather due to the Percy Steward Substation transformer that blew and repairs taking 10 days to complete.
Devin Nieuwenhuisen, the new councillor for ward 20 explained to the News that during load-shedding the mini substations took a lot of strain.
• Also read: Parts of city without power: municipality on a fault-finding mission
On February 18 the electricity was supposed to come on at 22:00 but it never did. Nieuwenhuisen said the procurement of mini substations is a national crisis and the demand is very high. Adding that it took them four days to procure one. The one they did get, however, was not right as it was a bigger size than the one that was installed previously.
This meant more delays as the new substation had to be modified as well as the infrastructure needed to be updated for the new mini substation. But other problems added to the delays as the crane arm was too short as well. According to him, however, they started installation on the mini substation on Tuesday, February 28, exactly 10 days after it blew.
On February 20, Mogale City Local Municipality said in a statement they cannot keep up with the high demand for mini substations due to continued theft, vandalism, or higher stages of load-shedding.
“These factors not only leave a huge dent in our budget that ratepayers regrettably carry the costs for, but they also put a strain on residents and the municipality’s capacity to deliver basic services.
“We, therefore, continue to appeal to residents to assist in protecting our infrastructure by reporting any suspicious activity around our substations to our Public Safety Division or the police.”
The News visited the community serviced by the mini substation in Percy Steward Street and understandably after nine days without electricity, they were not happy. They explained they feel they were not kept up to date throughout the process and all they wanted was an estimated time of completion.
As one can imagine they have had to improvise and one resident said that he had spent almost R1 000 on petrol for his generator, and he only runs it now and then. Most of the residents have also had to throw away food and had to buy groceries every night so it does not spoil.
Two of the most alarming cases were that the local vet in the area said they use between R500 and R1 000 in petrol per day to keep her practice running. This is mainly to keep the medicine fridges cold. Without it, she would suffer losses of tens of thousands of rands. She told the News that without an estimated time of repair, she can’t even estimate her losses.
According to some residents, there is also an elderly woman who makes use of an oxygen machine, and the security in the neighbourhood is compromised. One neighbour said that he has to travel to his children’s house to shower.
Many residents also work from home and without electricity, it is costing them a lot.
Nieuwenhuisen said if everything goes according to plan the lights will be on again soon, apart from load-shedding. He added that they want to give the community the service they deserve but sometimes unforeseen circumstances get in the way.
