Concern amid city power outages

Frustrations mounts among City of uMhlathuze residents over recent electricity outages affecting parts of Richards Bay, Empangeni and surrounding areas.

The latest power failure was on Friday evening, leaving residents of Birdswood, Mandlazini, Brackenham, Aquadene and Meerensee, as well as parts of Empangeni and Dumisani Makhaye Village in the dark.

The city’s electrical department reported a fault at the Vega and Hercules substations.

While electricity supply was restored before 10pm, many residents have shared concern with the persistent outages, with some experienced over the festive season amid scorching temperatures.

“Please explain how on a daily basis we have so many power outages. Sometimes it’s clock work how it goes off and on,” one resident shared on Facebook.  “It’s almost like we have silent load-shedding now.”

Another resident reported on Friday evening: “Birdswood just went out now. First the power tripped and it said overload on the power meter. Then a minute later the power went out completely.”

“Every time it rains or when it’s too hot someone’s power goes off,” another resident expressed.

This has prompted a plea for residents to reduce electricity consumption, particularly amid the hot weather conditions, to maintain a stable power supply.

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