For 11 days, about 50 households in Florida Glen have been left without electricity, forcing residents to endure freezing winter conditions, mounting costs and growing frustration as City Power continues to search for the cause of a recurring underground cable fault.

Residents in Ward 86, Florida Glen, have been without power since May 31 due to faults on the underground medium-voltage network supplying the area.

The outage has affected about 50 households in streets including Heidi, Rolina and Hortense.

According to residents Shereen and Neil Bothma, electricity went off at about 21:30 on May 31. They reported the outage to City Power, but claim progress has been slow.

The couple said technicians and testing teams were first seen in the area on June 3, working along Zandra Avenue, although the exact cause of the outage remained unclear at the time.

“We were told that multiple entities might need to be involved in locating the fault. Since then, we have been trying to escalate the matter, but City Power has consistently promised and failed to deliver,” they said.

The residents added that they even organised a small protest in an effort to draw attention to the prolonged outage.

Also read: Prolonged power outages hit Ward 89 residents

Situation places financial strain on couple

For the Bothmas, who operate an online business from home, the blackout has had serious financial consequences.

“We’ve had to rely on a generator, which costs us about R700 a day to run. We also have an elderly resident, a brother with special needs and a toddler who have all been heavily affected,” they said.

The couple also criticised City Power’s call-logging and mobile app systems, alleging that several service tickets were closed without electricity being restored.

Ongoing outage brings about unexpected expenses

Another resident from Zandra Avenue described the situation as devastating.

“There have been numerous challenges and unexpected expenses. Food stored in our fridges and freezers has spoiled, while generator fuel costs continue to increase daily,” the resident said.

Also read: City Power still battling to restore electricity in Florida

“Without electricity, we have no hot water to bathe with and no stove to cook on. We are also spending additional money on gas to keep our cylinders filled.”

The resident added that many people in the community feel let down by the level of service they have received.

“We are receiving no service as taxpayers and residents who faithfully pay our municipal accounts. We are disappointed that residents had to come together, organise a protest and fight for service delivery themselves.”

Ward 89 councillor Chantelle Fourie-Shawe confirmed that she is aware of the outage and has escalated the matter with City Power. She also provided the Roodepoort Record with correspondence detailing her ongoing engagements with the entity regarding the fault.

City Power denies allegations

City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena denied allegations that nothing had been done to assist residents. He said that since the outage was first reported, their teams have undertaken the following technical interventions:

• Fault location and tracing on the underground medium-voltage network
• Excavation of the affected cable route
• Repairs to damaged sections of the underground cable
• Electrical testing and commissioning of repaired cable sections
• Multiple restoration attempts following successful testing
• Ongoing fault-running exercises after the feeder tripped again following restoration and
• Additional diagnostic investigations to determine whether further cable defects or equipment-related issues exist on the network

Mini-substation identified as cause of recurring trips

Mangena added that while operators were on site on June 10, they discovered that the Mutale mini-substation was waterlogged and that this could be the underlying cause of the recurring trips.

He explained that underground cable failures cannot be visually identified and require specialised equipment and testing to locate.

“While technicians successfully repaired an initial fault and restored supply, the feeder tripped again about two hours later, indicating that additional underlying defects may exist elsewhere on the network.

“Every repair must be tested before restoration to prevent further damage to equipment and ensure the safety of both the technical team and customers. Preparations are being made to drain the water, remove the moisture and restore supply, provided there are no further challenges.”

Mangena said there is currently no estimated restoration time, but residents will be updated once testing has been completed.