Residents in Louwlardia, including those living in the Heritage Hill, Golden Fields, and Candlewoods estates, say electricity outages remain a regular problem despite the Tshwane Metro completing repairs to four feeder cables identified as a source of recurring faults in the area.

The city confirmed that it has replaced 310m of faulty cable sections across the four feeders, and that all are now operational.

However, residents say the completion of the work has not brought the reliable electricity supply they had hoped for.

Heritage Hill resident Alene van Tonder echoed this sentiment.

“We are still experiencing power outages often. It seems as though the work that the metro said it would carry out is not making any difference.”

Van Tonder said the continued interruptions were frustrating individuals living in the area and disrupting their daily lives.

Resident Julia Scheepers said the frequent outages are becoming increasingly disruptive and are affecting more than just Heritage Hill, with residents in other parts of Louwlardia also experiencing similar problems. She said that Golden Fields and Candlewoods estates are also affected by these outages.

Scheepers stated that the interruptions make it difficult for people to go about their daily routines, particularly when outages last for extended periods or occur without sufficient warning.

“The disruptions affect households, businesses and residents who rely on electricity for essential activities.

“It is extremely frustrating to constantly have to deal with power outages, especially when residents have no idea how long the electricity will be off or when the next outage will happen. It affects everything from preparing meals and working from home to household security and other basic daily activities,” she said.

The recurring outages follow a series of electricity problems in Louwlardia that the metro has previously linked to both vandalism and cable theft at the Louwlardia Substation, as well as faults on the downstream network.

In December 2025, Mashigo said electricity supply problems in the area had been ongoing since October 2023.

He stated that sustained vandalism and theft of feeder cables had compromised the infrastructure and contributed to prolonged, recurring outages.

The city subsequently upgraded the Louwlardia Substation through a Community Upliftment Project involving business partners. The upgrades included additional security measures such as CCTV surveillance and an electric fence.

While the substation itself was considered more stable following the upgrades, the city said problems remained on the downstream electricity network.

According to Mashigo, the metro identified faults on four feeder cables, with water ingress at multiple sections that had previously been repaired contributing to recurring failures.

They noted that the defects were structural and could not be sustainably addressed through repeated patch repairs. The city therefore prioritised replacing sections of the four affected feeders.

The project was initially discussed as involving approximately 1.3km of each feeder, with work scheduled to start on December 15, 2025, and be completed by January 30.

The city has since clarified that it never made a commitment to replacing the full 1.3km length of each feeder.

In a response to a Rekord query, Mashigo said the 1.3km figure was raised as a suggestion by attendees at a meeting, while the city’s actual intervention focused on sections confirmed to be faulty.

“The replacement work has been successfully completed,” said Mashigo.

He confirmed that 310m of new cable had been installed across the four feeders. Three feeders were repaired within the original timeframe, while work on the fourth was completed in April 2026 after additional faults were identified and required further repairs.

Despite the project’s completion, Mashigo acknowledged that occasional outages still occur in the area.

“The occasional outages experienced in the area are generally associated with cable faults. The city continues to respond promptly whenever such faults result in power interruptions, with technical teams deployed to locate the affected sections, undertake the necessary repairs and restore electricity supply as quickly as circumstances allow.

“As an additional measure, the city continues to monitor the feeders closely so that any electrical faults resulting in trips can be identified, attended to and repaired as quickly as possible, thereby limiting the duration of interruptions.”

Mashigo stated that the completed cable replacement was expected to improve the reliability and stability of the electricity supply, but acknowledged that further infrastructure improvements were required.

The metro is currently upgrading the NIVS Substation, which Mashigo said would strengthen the electricity supply to the Louwlardia Substation and improve network resilience.

They have not provided a completion timeframe for the NIVS substation upgrade, saying they would communicate it once it was finalised.

For residents, however, the completion of the feeder cable repairs has yet to translate into an uninterrupted power supply.

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