Residents cannot claim for damage during unplanned outages, according to electricity by-law

The metro says it is not liable for any losses or damages suffered by consumers arising from the cessation, interruption or discontinuance of the supply of electricity, according to the electricity by-law.

This is bad news for residents who have suffered damage related to electricity supply problems.

Metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo confirmed that the by-law states that the municipality is not to be held liable in cases of cessation, interruption or discontinuance of electricity supply.

According to the by-law, the only exception is if the loss or damage is caused by negligence on the part of the service authority or the municipality.

Regarding the cause of the frequent power outages in Lynnwood Ridge, Mashigo said these emanated from 132kV transformer trips at Willows substation due to underground medium voltage cable faults and equipment failures.

Asked whether these outages were linked to maintenance work, technical faults or other factors, Mashigo said most of the interruptions were due to technical faults.

“These power interruptions were unforeseen (and) unplanned,” said Mashigo.

“The metro always prioritises outages as and when they occur and timeously stabilises the electricity supply to minimise further outages.”

According to him, all the medium-voltage cable faults were addressed, and power was restored to all the affected consumers in the area.

“The city always strives to provide reliable power to its customers,” he said.

Despite these assurances from the metro, residents in Lynnwood Ridge say they are at their wits’ end as the weekly power outages continue to disrupt their lives.

According to residents, for three weeks, they have been plagued by recurring blackouts, some lasting several hours.

Resident Marizaan Visagie said the situation has become unbearable.

She explained that the outages not only bring inconvenience but also rob families of necessities.

“It’s very, very bad. I’m a widow with a daughter, and when the power goes off, we can’t cook. I don’t always have extra money to buy takeaways, so sometimes we go to bed without food,” she said.

She recalled an outage a week ago that stretched from 15:00 until 23:00.

“It was crazy. We struggled the whole evening. It doesn’t just happen once in a blue moon; it’s every week. It’s become a constant thing.”

Visagie added that even when residents lodge claims for food spoilage or appliance damage, the process is futile.

According to Visagie, she is still waiting for a claim submitted almost six years ago, when they were without power for more than four weeks.

“Putting in claims doesn’t help at all,” she said.

Power surges following the outages have also left her with broken appliances.

“I lost a fridge before. Now, whenever the power goes out, I immediately switch everything off and wait to see if my neighbour’s lights come back on before turning mine on again.”

The power outages have also affected Visagie’s small business.

She said she runs a cleaning service in Pretoria east, and the interruptions cost her time and money.

“When clients call us for a job, I can’t send my team if we don’t have power to prepare equipment. It affects my business and my household.”

Another resident confirmed the trend of frequent blackouts.

Danie de Jager said his household experienced outages on the last two Fridays.

“Each time it lasted about two hours. Luckily, none of my appliances were damaged.”

Councillor Pieter van Heerden confirmed that Lynnwood Ridge had experienced several outages in recent weeks.

“For about three weeks, it did happen almost weekly,” he said.

“The main cause was tripping at the Willow substation, sometimes linked to overloading or panels needing maintenance.”

He said on another occasion, the Nyala substation tripped, which then affected several other areas in Lynnwood Ridge.

Van Heerden added that the outages were not caused by a single ongoing fault.

“Each time, the metro attended to the matter, and it was resolved. However, it was not always the same issue.”

He said sometimes panels need cleaning or resetting, and other times, it’s overloading.

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