Electricity at Kolonnade back on

The power outage that left the Kolonnade shopping centre and surrounding areas in the dark for a whole day this past weekend had been addressed.

The blackout that lasted more than 10 hours on Sunday was allegedly caused by cable theft from the Phumulani substation. The power was switched on again around 21:00 on Sunday evening.

Cllr Ina Strijdom confirmed that the substation had been repaired and that all the areas were once again supplied with power.

Monique van Rensburg, spokesperson for the shopping centre, said that the power outage caused a huge inconvenience at the centre. She said the centre was unable to trade for a whole day due to the outages.

The Thswane municipality said that if households were still experiencing outages they should report it by sending an SMS with the word ‘power’ followed by their account number to 082-612-0333. Or report a power failure at 012-358-9999, choosing the electricity option or at 080-111-556.

Residents from Centurion were left in the dark for nearly four days when the power went out on Monday after the Brakfontein substation was severely vandalised and the Kentron sub-station on the Highveld caught fire. Also, on Tuesday five cases of vandalism were reported in Centurion, including to the mini-substation in Kruger Avenue.

Executive mayor, Kgosientso Ramokgopa, said that these criminal acts not only affect the power supply, but also the financial resources that were needed for service delivery. Speaking at a press briefing on Wednesday, he said the municipality had put strategies in place to resolve the problem.