City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality technicians are set to switch on the remainder of Equestria, half of which is still without power.

Technicians worked non-stop over the past seven days repairing the Wapadrand substation that was destroyed by fire onTuesday last week, leaving several suburbs in the affluent eastern suburbs without power for over a week.

The municipality said at about 01h56 on Wednesday morning, technicians finished repair work to the damaged cables on the corner of Solomon Mahlangu Drive and Lynnwood Road. The cables had been damaged by a contractor working on that intersection.

Municipal manager Dr Moeketsi Mosola has expressed gratitude to the team that worked throughout the seven days to restore power and also apologised to  residents of the affected areas for the inconvenience. "I’m proud to be leading such a calibre of selfless, committed and dedicated employees who worked tirelessly to restore power within seven to eight days after the destruction of  Wapadrand substation,” he said.

Mosola expressed gratitude to the affected residents and businesses for their understanding and patience during the difficult period of the outage. He said some opened their hearts to the technicians and generously provided food and refreshments and other necessities to them.

“Your kindness has not gone unnoticed,” Mosola said.

Mosola said the teams started the Nelson Mandela Day a week in advance, saying that while one can’t praise a fish for swimming, these teams went beyond the call of duty by extraordinarily performing a miracle of rebuilding a substation within a week, an arduous and daunting task that ordinarily takes between three and  six months to complete.Mosola also thanked ward councillors for their encouragement and support and for constantly keeping their constituencies informed at all times.

Executive mayor Solly Msimanga and MMC for utility services Darryl Moss spent hours on site to give moral support to the teams.

Areas that were affected include Faerie Glen, Olympus, Equestria, Lambodie and Silverlakes.

Faerie Glen resident Maria Steyn said being without power for over a week was a bad experience, saying power had been coming and going.

“What made it worse is that it is winter,” she said.

An investigation is underway to determine the exact cause of the fire.