Power will be restored soon in many areas in Randfontein that suffered an outage after a transformer at the Drowell substation was struck by lightning last week.
According to Ward 3 councillor, Alwyn van Tonder, the affected areas are Bootha Agricultural Holdings, Loumarina, Klein Elandsvlei, Elandsvlei, Townlands, Ooster and Wilbotsdal Agricultural Holdings.
Van Tonder confirmed that the substation was hit by lightning at about 3am on Friday, 13 March.
He added that a large team of technicians have since been working tirelessly on site, installing a backup transformer.
“If everything goes smoothly, we are expecting electricity to be on by this afternoon (Tuesday, 17 March),” he said.
Van Tonder, who described the operation as a ‘big one’, thanked the many people who had been part of the restoration efforts from the start.
“We thank Hannes Ernst and his team; contractors for their dedicated service to restore the electricity; Henry Boyce from the CPF and all the patrollers for safeguarding the substation in the area; Johan Booysen of EPR for the security and patrols; and AfriForum for sponsoring more security,” Van Tonder said.
He also thanked other members of the community who provided refreshments to the workers.
“There were people who offered water, and we just want to say thank you.”
Van Tonder said had the team not been that dedicated, repairs would have taken much longer.
“If you look at the work that has been done – these guys truly have to be commended for doing so much within such a short period,” Van Tonder said.
