MMC Knott monitors power outages
City Power said the outages have been mainly caused by the surge in demand.
Leah Knott, acting MMC for the Environment and Infrastructure Services Department, is closely monitoring outage backlogs as they are being cleared by City Power following an uptick in outages this past weekend.
“City Power is dealing with an abnormal amount of breakdowns as Johannesburg residents consumed more power to deal with the cold and wet weather,” said Knott.
Since April 8, when severe downpours began in the city, City Power has been dealing with 1 944 outages across Johannesburg, with 260 alone related to the Hursthill substation.
More technicians and contractors have been deployed to deal with this crisis as fast as possible.
City Power has indicated the outages have been mainly caused by the surge in demand, which has led to cable faults and infrastructure failures on the city’s ageing power grid.
“Rampant cable theft has further complicated the situation, with City Power personnel also being under sustained attack from these criminals on almost a daily basis.
“With Eskom also being forced to implement load-shedding from April 11, the process of fully restoring power has further been delayed as technicians are unable to work on the network during these periods.
“The unfortunate fact is that Johannesburg’s power network is aged and in need of constant maintenance and support to keep functioning at an optimum capacity. It is during times like this that City Power also has to deal with surges on their network as demand increases.
“We thus appeal to all residents in our city to always use electricity sparingly. Everyone can play a role in preventing outages by only using appliances when necessary and turning off their geysers and pool pumps until the backlog is dealt with,” Knott added.
