Olympus and Faerie Glen find fault with power repair delay
Frustration is mounting in Faerie Glen, Olympus, and surrounding areas after residents endured an eight-day power outage, blaming the metro for slow repairs and ongoing faults in the electricity network.
Residents of Faerie Glen, Olympus, and surrounding areas who suffered a power outage between January 9 and 17 have described the period as one of the worst they have experienced living in the capital.
The initial outage began on January 9 after multiple cable faults and power trips at the Koedoeberg Substation left them without electricity. Power was finally restored to all affected consumers in the morning of January 17.
Ward 44 councillor Samantha de la Rey confirmed that electricity supply had been fully restored after extensive repair work on the affected ring feeder.
“There were numerous cable faults that needed to be fixed in that specific ring feeder, and teams managed to repair all of them,” De la Rey said.
However, the relief was short-lived as electricity tripped again on Sunday evening, with the fault this time originating at the Wapadrand Substation, affecting a large portion of Pretoria east.
De la Rey said technical teams were quickly dispatched and were working to restore power as quickly as possible.
She said that initially, the teams identified the fault and fixed it. However, after switching the power back on, it tripped again, and further faults on the network were discovered.
“On January 15, when work on the faults was done, before power could be switched on, they discovered seven more faults.”
She said the technicians worked on restoring the power, but were handicapped by a lack of specialist tools.
According to De la Rey, “The budget cuts and money taken away from the electricity teams by the Tshwane administration have left the electricity department very vulnerable, and they cannot do proper maintenance. They cannot improve infrastructure as money [has been directed] to water tankers.”
De la Rey said the whole of Region 6 – managed from the Waltloo and Pretorius Park depots – has only one switching team.
This causes delays as newly reported faults have to wait for that team to finish work that is currently assigned to them before they can move to the next fault.
Residents have expressed frustration over the recurring outages, particularly following the prolonged eight-day blackout.
Christian Crombrink said the prolonged power outage has left the community feeling abandoned by the city.
“We are fed up with the metro’s failure to provide basic services such as electricity. While Mayor, Dr Nasiphi Moya is frequently seen on Facebook disconnecting power to residents and businesses who are not paying, those of us who do pay are being left in the dark for over a week,” Crombrink said.
He criticised what they described as a lack of urgency in restoring electricity to affected areas.
“There seems to be no urgency from the city to ensure that power is restored. Since [the afternoon of] January 9, the Olympus and Faerie Glen areas have been without electricity.”
Crombrink praised the ward councillor for her work and blamed the metro for lacking the urgency to get power restored.
“The councillors have become middlemen, relaying information to residents, while the mayor and her senior officials sit comfortably in their homes with electricity.”
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