THE Prospecton electricity supply has stabilised following outages that started on October 30, leading to massive costs being incurred by several companies which had to hire generators and buy diesel.

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One of these companies, CTP Gravure, spent well over R10m on diesel and on hiring generators to keep its printing press running. From October 30 to December 9, electricity was off for 200 hours. The company’s chief engineer, Veno Govender, said the outages started when some cables were damaged during canal construction on Prospecton Road, disrupting the supply to businesses on Joyner Road.

“The power has been stable since Friday (December 12), but we just had a power dip at 09:10 (December 15). I managed to contact the municipality’s transmission technician, and he said there are no faults in Prospecton. The dip was caused by another area and affected most of Durban,” said Govender.

The company’s general production manager, Jonathan Lawrence, said that when supply dips, it damages the machinery, further setting production back.

eThekwini’s media relations officer, Luthando Ngubane, said the City was aware of the electricity challenges in the area as they had been reported to the relevant department.

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