Public pressure and tireless hard work from City Power technicians are bringing the restoration of electricity services within touching distance.
The lengthy outage has warranted a site visit by the MMC for Infrastructure and Environmental Services, Councillor Mpho Moerane, who was at the Nursery Substation in the early afternoon of 3 November. Area Manager David McMahon took the MMC on a tour of the substation to point out the problem areas and explain how close they were to bringing the lights back on.
All parties on the ground were confident that power would be restored by Wednesday morning. Repairs to the roof were mostly completed by the time the MMC concluded his visit, and the next step would then be to begin the necessary infrastructure testing. Residents are urged to unplug all their appliances and once the grid is stable, to then plug in essential appliances.
In a related issue, a switching substation in Discovery was stripped of its cabling shortly before midday on 3 November. The thieves, knowing the site was not live, were attempting to steal an incredibly large breaker that proved too heavy for them to remove in a hurry. They fled with the cables and other items that they could carry and are still at large.
The damage to that switching station is significant and it is unsure how it will affect reconnection to some streets in the area.
