Persistent outages in Faerie Glen attributed to faults and criminal activity

The Tshwane metro has blamed persistent power outages in Ward 44, including Faerie Glen and part of Garsfontein, on infrastructure faults and criminal activity.

Residents are frustrated over outages occurring daily. They have labelled these as a nightmare for residents and businesses.

Many residents report that electricity disruptions have become a routine occurrence, with little clarity provided on when or why power is cut.

Some believe the outages could be due to an overloaded substation, and that the metro switches off power as a load-reduction measure to ease pressure on the network.

Ward 44 councillor Samantha de la Rey said residents and businesses in the area are being severely affected by the ongoing, unscheduled power interruptions.

“Most residents work from home and require electricity to do so. These disruptions have become routine, yet there has been little progress in implementing lasting, transparent solutions,” she explained.

De la Rey further expressed concern about the city’s lack of transparency regarding the root causes of the outages.

“It affects daily life. Most businesses are also suffering due to these unregulated or unscheduled power outages,” she said.

She said residents in Faerie Glen are also dealing with the lack of functioning streetlights, which poses both a safety risk and encourages criminal activity.

“The lack of lighting not only threatens the safety of residents but also emboldens criminal activity. Public lighting must be treated as a critical priority for Ward 44, not an afterthought,” she said.

De la Rey urged the metro to implement long-term solutions and maintain transparency with residents about both the causes of outages and the steps being taken to prevent future disruptions.

Metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo responded to the residents’ concerns and clarified the situation.

Asked if the outages were part of load-reduction measures or due to faults in aged substations, Mashigo said: “No, there is no load reduction implemented within the Region 6 area of supply, which includes Faerie Glen.”

He explained that the main causes of the unplanned power interruptions were related to infrastructure faults and criminal activity.

“The main causes of these interruptions were an underground medium-voltage cable fault, theft and vandalism of one medium-voltage unit. Two incidents were part of the 132kV Njala infeed substation planned power supply interruption, which affected Faerie Glen and other areas,” Mashigo said.

He said the Faerie Glen substation was built around 1974, making it 51 years old.

“The substation is not overloaded. Periodic load readings are undertaken by the secondary planning team in conjunction with the regional team.”

Mashigo said, “The city strives to attend to all power interruptions within the norms and standards as and when they occur. Regarding theft and vandalism of electricity infrastructure, the Tshwane Metro Police Department will increase patrols and visibility within the identified hotspot areas.”

He said, according to the city’s records, there have not been any known unplanned power interruptions in the area.

“Our records indicate that there are no faulty medium-voltage cables pending or medium-voltage unit/equipment within the vicinity of Faerie Glen, and all customers have electricity.”

He said there is no technical need to upgrade the electricity infrastructure in the area of supply for Faerie Glen.

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