Kwagga substation fire causes day of misery and darkness for Tshwane
Power in the capital has mostly been restored, with the situation so bad that the city was taken off the load shedding schedule.
The blaze that caused blackouts in large parts of Pretoria on Tuesday.
Most residents in the west of Pretoria were left without power in the early hours of Tuesday morning after a substation in Kwaggasrand caught fire, reports Pretoria East Rekord.
By the early afternoon, the situation had seen a vast improvement, with councillor Abel Tau saying most affected areas had had their power restored.
“The city had a situation in Kwagga. We are pleased to announce that about 80% of affected residents are now back online. We are going through all our Primary Substations to ensure that they have adequate protective devices to mitigate the current threat of switching on and off,” he said.
The city had a situation in Kwagga. We are pleased to announce that about 80% of affected residents are now back on line.
We are going through all our Primary Substations to ensure that they have adequate protective devices to mitigate the current threat of switching on and off. pic.twitter.com/zFUhHKGC8S
— Abel Tau (@AbelTau1) December 10, 2019
Residents were left without power since around 02:00, acting ward councillor Pastor James Ndlovu told Pretoria Moot Rekord earlier on Tuesday.
The city of Tshwane technicians worked around the clock to ensure that electricity was restored.
#KwaggaSubstation update:
We are busy energising areas in phases, some areas already back on— City of Tshwane (@CityTshwane) December 10, 2019
The damage was so bad that the city was removed from the load shedding schedule for the day.
In a statement, the city said: “There will be no load shedding [because the power is already out] in Tshwane today, due to the fire at the Kwagga substation that has affected the power supply to the northwestern parts of Tshwane. Power will be restored in phases over the next three to four hours. Customers are urged to treat all electrical apparatus as live.”
City of Tshwane head of communication Hilgard Matthew said some affected areas were being restored.
“Our technicians are working tirelessly to ensure that the power is restored. The Pretoria CBD which was affected is now up and running,” he said.
Matthew said the power would be restored in phase.
“All the areas affected should have power tonight around 18:00 to 19:00.”
Kwagga sub-station @CityTshwane pic.twitter.com/gHo3kC7rbM
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) December 10, 2019
A large part of the west, central and north of Pretoria were affected, including Rosslyn, Atteridgeville, Laudium, Sunnyside, Parktown Mayville Wonderboom, Sinoville, Bon Accord and Magalieskruin.
Unaffected areas would experience load shedding despite a Tshwane metro tweet which claimed that Pretorians would not face power cuts due to the Kwagga substation fire.
“The tweet was misleading and a mistake on our side, we can confirm that load shedding stage 4 will be implemented.”
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