Residents of several areas in Mamelodi should brace themselves for a Christmas without any electricity after criminals had badly damaged an electricity sub-station when they stole cables and other components in the early hours of Wednesday.
It is expected that power would only be restored within 48 hours although technicians were urgently addressing the problem, according to a statement by the Tshwane metro.
“In the early hours of this morning, our electricity control room received a trip signal from the Mamelodi Sub-station. Our technicians found the sub-station badly damaged, with cables, switch gears and other components stolen by unknown persons,” the metro stated.
“Our technical team is currently on-site to find switching alternatives in order to restore service to the residents.”
However, the metro warned, due to the extent of the damage caused by the criminals, repair work was estimated to take up to 48 hours.
Residents in Mamelodi west –C1 – C5, B1-B3, and A1 up to A5, Sunvalley, Denneboom and Kinsley Hostel should therefore prepare themselves for a Christmas Eve and Christmas day without any power.
“It is unfortunate that residents have to suffer as a result of criminal activities,” the metro stated, urging customers to become vigilant and report suspicious activities around the substations in their area.
“We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience caused.”
Affected customers were urged to report power failures by SMS. SMS the word power followed by your account number to 44676 or 082 612 0333.
Alternatively, Tshwane advised, report a power failure to 012 358 9999, choosing the electricity option 3 or 080 111 556.
The metro however warned residents that although there was no electricity, all electrical points should be treated as live.
“Switch off all non-essential appliances to assist with the load on the electrical network.”
On Tuesday evening, several other areas in the west of the city and in Centurion were also left in the dark when electricity supply equipment was damaged by heavy lightning.
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