Power outages leave Randburg suburbs in the dark
City Power is experiencing outage pressure due to adverse weather conditions in Randburg.
Power outages have negatively affected Randburg suburbs recently, with residents going hours, and sometimes days, without electricity.
Read more: City Power cracks down on illegal connections syndicate in Kya Sands
On March 18, City Power confirmed that the Randburg Service Delivery Centre (SDC) is currently experiencing significant pressure due to an influx of medium voltage (MV) outages, as a direct result of the heavy rainfall experienced over the past weekend.
Isaac Mangena, the entity spokesperson, explained that they currently have 11 MV outages affecting multiple substations, including:
• Northriding substation (Two distributors)
• Bordeaux substation
• Olivedale substation
• Beyers substation
• Brynorth substation
• Houtkoppen substation (Six distributors)
Also read: City Power suspends load reduction indefinitely
“We have received 1 500 logged calls linked with the reported outages. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused to our customers during this challenging time. We are also aware of a suspected outage affected customers around the Blairgowrie area and surroundings. A team is on-site to work on restoring power supply.”
He further stated that they are working around the clock to address and restore power to affected areas. However, they are facing delays associated with working under waterlogged surfaces. “In such conditions, it is difficult to test and locate faults on the network, due to saturation of moisture on the ground. Additionally, the process of repairing faults also takes longer, because trenches are usually flooded, and would first need to be drained before any work can commence.”
Mangena reiterated with customers that they are fully committed to resolving these issues as quickly as possible under these unfavourable conditions.
To expedite the restoration process, they have deployed additional teams on the ground to tackle the outstanding outages. “If the pressure persists, we will not hesitate to redeploy additional resources from other service delivery centres to assist the Randburg team in restoring power swiftly.”
These are the latest updates, shared at 11:15 on March 18:
• Northriding substation – Taurus distributor: A test branch team is on site to find the fault. Affected areas: Sundowner, Randpark Ridge, Boskruin.
• Northriding substation – Quorn 302 distributor: Further faults have been discovered. Repairs will continue until the issue is fully resolved. Affected areas: Bromhof, Boskruin, Sonneglans.
• Beyers Naudé substation: Still awaiting investigation after finding the faults for Taurus, and repairs complete for Quorn as some parts of block 16 were divided amongst these two distributors.
• Houtkoppen substation: City Power will assess after completing tasks. Affected areas: Kya Sand, Northriding AH.
• Northriding 475 boundary distributor: Tripped this morning, City Power will attend once tasks are complete. Affected areas: Kya Sand, Northriding AH.
• Olivedale: Test team on site locating the faults affecting parts of Northriding.
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