Substation fire adds to power woes
The municipality is yet to respond to the Advertiser's inquiry about the cause of the fire and the costs to repair the substation.
Residents and businesses, already battling with the return of load-shedding, have been without power for days after the Munic substation on 1st Avenue caught fire on Friday afternoon.
Initially, the metro estimated that it would take about two weeks to restore power.
“The City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) is working around the clock to restore power to several areas in Springs,” said the metro spokesperson Zweli Dlamini at the time.
The affected areas included the Springs CBD, Casseldale, Strubenvale, Largo, Daggafontein, Edelweiss, Selection Park, Pollak Park, Springs Extension, Welgedacht, Bakerton and Bakerton Extension, Geduld, Paul Kruger’s Oord and Pietersfield.
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The CoE provided daily updates on social media about the progress made and on Saturday technicians assessed the damage caused by the fire.
By Sunday the team from the Department of Energy was able to restore power to some areas. While progress was being made daily, residents still without power became increasingly frustrated.
Charmaine Kock, councillor of Ward 75, explained that no area is prioritised over another.
“The network configuration does not allow all areas to be reconnected immediately. Once the temporary substation has been constructed they will be restored,” she said.
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Pravin Naidoo, president of the Eastern Gauteng Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the stop and start of electricity supply for the industrial area is a major problem.
“Some of the industrial areas are still without power. Nuffield, north of the railway line, has been without power since the fire broke out,” he said.
DA MP Ashor Sarupen, Far East Constituency Head, said the razing to the ground of the substation required engineers to join and test cables across town to get energy restored.
“When the JVA substation was vandalised and burned to the ground in 2017 it took a month for power to be restored.
“We have instead asked the engineers to find a solution, and their solution is multi-fold, back-feeding from other substations, which requires joining cables, testing them for faults and making sure that the substations take the load. This is a major engineering challenge.
“It has worked in many cases that have brought large parts of Springs online.
“Where this is not possible (and in many cases, it is not) it requires the building of a temporary substation, which is ordinarily a two-week job,” he said.
The municipality is yet to respond to the Advertiser’s inquiry about the cause of the fire and the costs to repair the substation.
