Residents of Newlands continued to experience electricity disruptions weeks after a fire damaged a City Power mini substation on Italian Road on June 18.

According to resident Jan Oosthuyzen, the power supply remained unreliable even after a generator was installed about a week after the fire. “They provided us with a generator, and for three to four days it was okay,” said Oosthuyzen. “But since June 29, at around 17:00 or 18:00, the generator has been going off. They keep telling us it’s because of overloading at some of the houses, but it seems to go off at more or less the same time every evening.”

City Power confirmed it had been alerted to the fire during the early hours at the transformer switching station at 66 Italian Road. Emergency services responded quickly and contained the fire before it could spread further, while City Power technicians assessed the damage.

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The assessment revealed extensive damage to the indoor transformer and several critical components, including a 500kVA transformer, medium- and low-voltage cables, circuit breakers and associated switchgear. As a safety precaution, the entire switching station was isolated while engineers investigated the cause of the fire and prepared a repair plan.

Although the exact cause remains under investigation, preliminary findings suggested the fire may have been linked to an overload condition or an overcurrent fault. City Power said these conditions can generate excessive heat, placing stress on electrical equipment and, in severe cases, leading to equipment failure.

The utility added that the Italian Road substation had experienced recurring power trips in the weeks leading up to the incident and had already been under close monitoring by operational teams.

City Power said many parts of Johannesburg’s electricity network are ageing and continue to face increasing pressure, particularly during winter when electricity demand rises sharply as households use heaters, geysers and other high-consumption appliances.

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The utility also noted that higher occupancy levels in residential complexes can place additional strain on electricity infrastructure when demand exceeds the capacity for which it was originally designed.

City Power said its immediate priority was replacing the damaged equipment. It added that longer-term infrastructure upgrades, ongoing maintenance and network monitoring would help improve reliability and reduce the risk of similar incidents in future. The utility also encouraged residents to use electricity responsibly during winter peak periods to help ease pressure on the network while infrastructure improvements continue.

Northcliff Melville Times will continue engaging with City Power and residents to monitor progress on repairs and provide updates as more information becomes available.

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