City Power announces that power supply has been fully restored to customers in Rosebank, Dunkeld, Parkwood, Hyde Park, and surrounding areas after an outage that occurred last night following load shedding.

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The outage was due to critically low levels of sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) gas at the Rosebank substation. SF6 gas is essential for insulating high-voltage circuit breakers and preventing short circuits or flashovers within the switchgear. When gas levels fall below safe thresholds, protection systems automatically trip to prevent equipment damage and ensure public safety.

Also read: City Power updates residents over prolonged power outage

During load shedding, circuit breakers are repeatedly switched on and off, which accelerates the leakage or depletion of SF6 gas. Without adequate gas levels, the circuit breakers cannot function safely, prompting a shutdown to avoid equipment failure and safety hazards. Before power can be fully restored, maintenance teams must replenish and repair the affected components to ensure the system’s integrity.

City Power urges residents to reduce electricity consumption, especially during peak hours, to help ease the strain on the electrical grid and prevent further disruptions. The utility sincerely apologies for any inconvenience caused and thanks the community for their patience and co-operation during this maintenance process.

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