City Power completes repairs following blaze that cut electricity to Alexandra, Melrose and inner-city areas.
Image: Supplied/City Power
Power supply has been fully restored to all Johannesburg customers who were left without electricity on Wednesday afternoon after veld fires damaged critical infrastructure in the east of the city, according to a statement from City Power.
The outages began when fires spread beneath high-voltage power lines, causing the Sebenza substation to trip.
According to City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena, “City Power would like to caution the residents against putting on fires, field fires, which this afternoon basically affected a large part of Johannesburg in terms of electricity supply.”
Mangena said the substation supplies at least 21 other substations across the eastern part of the city, and its failure triggered a cascade of outages across a wide stretch of Johannesburg.
Wide reach of the outages
The blackout hit numerous suburbs and essential facilities, including Edenvale, Sebenza, Founders Hill, Longlake, Greenstone, Modderfontein, Rand Aid, Elphin Lodge, Sandringham Police Station and the National Health Laboratory Service.
Mangena named some of the worst-affected zones directly, saying the fires “basically affected electricity supply to the eastern corridor of the city of Johannesburg, affecting areas such as Bertrams, Alexandra, and Melrose.”
Other affected areas included:
- 1st to 22nd Avenue between London Road and Joe Nhlanhla Road,
- Lombardy East,
- Kew,
- Lyndhurst,
- Savoy,
- Bramley, Bramley Park, Bramley View,
- Waverley,
- Melrose,
- Illovo,
- Inanda,
- Highlands North,
- River Park,
- Tsutsumani,
- Far East Bank, East Bank, West Bank, Extensions 7 to 9,
- Bezuidenhout Valley/Kensington Standby, RMU 1089 and RMU 1090,
- Bellevue Substation supply areas,
- Kensington Extension Standby,
- Bezuidenhout Valley East,
- Kensington Extension 3,
- Doornfontein Standby,
- Observatory North,
- Cyrildene Central,
- Langermann Drive,
- Bruma Standby,
- Dewetshof,
- Bruma,
- Denver,
- Benrose,
- Melville,
- Heriotdale and other surrounding areas are supplied by the affected network.
Mangena explained that the fires were started “around Sebenza substation under the high voltage cables that are supplying electricity to at least 21 substations across the eastern part of the City of Johannesburg,” describing the situation as a serious and recurring problem for the utility.
Firefighting and restoration process
Johannesburg Emergency Management Services attended the scene to extinguish the flames before City Power technicians could begin work, as technical teams were permitted access only once the areas were declared safe.
Mangena said restoring supply is not a quick process once lines have tripped, noting “it takes a lot of time for us to basically do that because there’s a whole lot of work that needs to happen after the lines would have tripped.”
Once the fires were out and the sites were cleared, engineers carried out inspections and assessments before switching the supply back on.
Mangena had earlier said the utility was “hoping that we’ll be starting to restore power by later this afternoon after the fire has been put out by the emergency services.”
Watch: Veld fires that caused outages across Johannesburg’s Eastern Corridor
Appeal to residents and current status
City Power confirmed that all affected customers have since had their electricity restored following the successful repair of the Sebenza substation.
The utility thanked “customers for their patience and understanding while the fires were being extinguished and the necessary restoration work was carried out to safely restore power supply to affected customers.”
Residents were again urged not to start veld fires or burn vegetation near electricity infrastructure.
“This remains an increasing concern during the dry winter season, as veld fires pose a serious threat to substations, high-voltage power lines, transformers and other critical electricity infrastructure.
“Such incidents can result in widespread power outages affecting thousands of homes, businesses and essential services, while also creating hazardous conditions that prevent technical teams from carrying out repairs until affected sites have been declared safe,” the utility cautioned.
Customers still experiencing isolated interruptions were advised to log a fault via citypower.mobi or contact the call centre on 011 490 7484.
