Cable theft behind power outages in east
MMC Frans Boshielo reveals that cable theft is the primary cause of power outages in the eastern suburbs, leaving residents frustrated and concerned
The recent spate of power outages in Pretoria’s eastern suburbs has left residents and businesses frustrated and concerned.
Rekord spoke to MMC for Utility Services, Frans Boshielo, to get to the bottom of the issue.
According to Boshielo, the primary cause of the constant power outages in the east of Pretoria is cable theft.
He cited the recent week-long power outage in Alphen Park and Ashlea Gardens as a stark example, which was caused by the brazen theft of an underground electric cable beneath the Garsfontein N1 Highway off-ramp.
“Cable theft is a major challenge for us, and it’s not only affecting the eastern suburbs, but the entire city,” Boshielo said.
Residents have expressed concern that the outages are a result of inadequate infrastructure maintenance.
However, Boshielo has assured residents that the outages are caused by theft and that it is always communicated to them through the councillors.
“We have communication portals with councillors for immediate feedback, and we also use our communications department to keep residents informed,” Boshielo explained.
Regarding the current capacity of the electricity grid in the affected areas, Boshielo said that the transformer supplying Ashlea Gardens and Alphen Park is 52% loaded, indicating sufficient capacity.
“There is no need for an upgrade or expansion in this area,” he said.
To prevent or minimise power outages during peak hours, he said the metro uses PowerMap, a tool that records network performance.
Boshielo said that repeated power failures are identified and attended to by planners.
He emphasised that the city prioritises areas for maintenance and upgrades based on a prioritisation model that takes into account feedback from various platforms, including regional feedback meetings, spatial development frameworks, and powermap reports.
Asked about the budget allocated for electricity infrastructure maintenance and upgrades in the eastern suburbs, Boshielo revealed that a reactive maintenance budget is provided for the region and allocated as needed.
“In the short term, the city plans to address power outages in the east by resolving them immediately upon discovering the cause of the problem,” he said.
“The region also aims to fix five abnormal power outages per week to ensure N+1 redundancy.” N+1 redundancy is a form of resilience that ensures system availability in the event of component failure.
Boshielo also confirmed that the city is exploring alternative energy sources and partnerships with independent power producers.
Regarding vandalism and theft of electricity infrastructure, he urged residents to report any suspicious activity to the Tshwane Metro Police Department’s cable theft unit.
“The city is also replacing copper with aluminium in areas where theft is frequent.
“Teams are readily available to attend to power outages, and we applaud residents for continuously reporting outages and escalations.”
He urged residents to be vigilant and report any suspicious activity to help them prevent power outages.
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