Electricity supply problems in parts of Pretoria East continued throughout the festive season.
Parts of Olympus, Zwavelpoort, Faerie Glen, Garsfontein, Mooikloof and surrounding plots have been experiencing unexpected power outages since early last year.
The situation seems to have worsened; with the Tshwane metro attributing the outages to a range of reasons, including the wind or rain, trees that touch the power lines, and infrastructure theft and vandalism.
Resident Ronel Robinson said members of the community sometimes went for 12 to 24 hours without electricity.
“I think the infrastructure is outdated,” she said.
As a resident on a plot, Robinson said security was often her biggest concern during power outages.
“Given farm attacks and all the crime that happens, not having lights is very risky.
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“This also affects our water pumps as they use electricity to function. So when the electricity goes off and you do not have a generator, water supply is also affected,” she said.
Community members have had to start communication support groups where they share information about which areas are affected by power outages and provide assistance to each other where possible.
Tshwane MMC for utility services Darryl Moss said cable theft was one of the major causes of electricity outages, and cost the city millions of rands each year. The city was exploring various ways to prevent the problem.
“The city is investing in new technologies to make it difficult for thieves to steal and vandalise electricity infrastructure.
“The technologies make use of mechanical and electronic devices that will drastically curb theft and vandalism,” Moss said.
Faerie Glen resident Jankie Matshega said cable theft sometimes left the area without electricity for up to two days.
“At times like those, we worry that the food in our fridges will go bad,” he said.
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Last year, the metro established an anti-cable theft unit to have proactive and reactive interventions at electrical substations, cable trenches and main feeders.
The unit also targeted operations at second-hand scrap metal dealers to curb the sale of stolen nonferrous metals.
Moss said there were plans to split cables to separate the supply of electricity to different areas, which could help reduce the number of places affected by power outages at the same time.
“We will install a new feeder backup from Koedoeberg sub-station and install additional feeds. This will reduce the downtime during outages.”
Moss said the city has identified and started to trim trees that touched power lines and have urged residents to trim any trees that are likely to touch the electricity line.
Members of the public were also urged to report cable theft to 012-358-4903.
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