New Ward 102 councillor Lucinda Harman, who inspires residents to become active citizens, says she is worried about Hurlingham substation feeder 1 as it is still not working.
Harman noted that the former councillor, David Potter, sought answers from City Power on when they would repair the feeder.
“I am worried about the feeder; it has been out of action for many months, and only the feeder to Hurlingham Manor is working, which means if something happens to that feeder, there will be no power for many weeks.”
She added that City Power has not addressed the problems of the feeder to her, and she has been pushing the matter to the top.
According to the inquiry that the Sandton Chronicle sent to City Power on May 11, City Power’s spokesperson, Isaac Mangena, said the delay in repairs and outages were caused by low transformer oil, resulting in the night shift team not completing the work.
He added that they are in the process of ordering material to fix a faulty cable on feeder 1, and once the order of the material is finalised, the repairs will commence.
We then sent another inquiry on when Hurlingham feeder 1 will be completely fixed, if they can highlight any progress they have made on the issue since May, and if they can give the community members a straight answer about the feeder’s situation.
Mangena said, “The Randburg Service Delivery Centre (SDC) is aware of the long-outstanding replacement of the faulty cable at the Hurlingham substation feeder 1. City Power apologises to the residents of Hurlingham and its surroundings for the delay in procuring and replacing the cable.”
He explained that they understand the urgency of replacing the cable and the risks associated with running a substation on one transformer.
“We want to assure customers that we have implemented measures to stabilise the power supply while finding a suitable supplier and working on repairs.”
Mangena elaborated that following the regular outages caused by the faulty cable, a team was assigned to quantify the material required to replace the cable.
“The estimated material required is 300m of 88kV cable, which costs approximately R4.9m. The cable is only manufactured internationally; therefore, specific rules and regulations had to be followed when procuring the cable, which has caused further delays in the process.”
He stated that since May this year, City Power has contacted various international companies and had lengthy discussions about the cable specifications.
“On November 6, a team was appointed to commence repairs on November 8. The project is estimated to be completed by December 22, should all go according to plan.”
Related Article: City Power answers to Hurlingham feeder 1 power-supply repairs
