The factors behind Tshwane's lengthy electricity outages

Tshwane has suffered from major electricity outages in the past few days, says the city's MMC for utilities, regional operations & co-ordination, Themba Fosi.

Fosi said this was caused by the recent cold front, load-shedding, illegal connections and increased theft and vandalism.

Certain areas in the western regions are experiencing low voltages due to system overloads, especially Atteridgeville, Hermanstad, Daspoort and Pretoria Gardens.

Fosi said the extreme cold weather has caused major trips across the city.

“In certain areas of Pretoria east, Olievenhoutbosch, Laudium and Mamelodi, some outages have lasted for two days or longer. Among others, the Wapadrand, Mooikloof, Olievenhoutbosch and Laudium substations are all affected, and technicians are working around the clock to ensure a stable electricity supply,” he said.

According to Fosi, during the past months of Eskom load-shedding, the city’s electricity network suffered severe damage, as copper thieves exploited the load-shedding schedule to target specific substations and their surroundings to steal cables and other equipment.

As a result, Fosi said, the city is suffering major financial losses as it replaces all stolen and damaged cables and equipment, and consumers battle with an unstable power supply.

Earlier, the city said parts of eastern Tshwane were without power after “huge” cable theft at the Njala 132kV substation. The affected areas are Mamelodi, parts of Waltloo and Silverton, and Pretoria east.

Fosi said technicians are on-site and the initial prognosis is that repairs may take a few days. However, he said it must be noted that teams will first direct their efforts to restoring Njala before returning to continue repairs at Wapadrand, Mooikloof and Mamelodi 1, 2, and 3.

He said the overload on the network is worsened by illegal connections downstream from substations, resulting in low-voltage supply, such as in the west of the city, or total outages in certain areas of Mamelodi and Soshanguve.

“While city officials, accompanied by the police, regularly conduct removal operations, the extent and scope of illegal connections are simply too great to address effectively. While the city’s repair teams are working around the clock to restore power as fast as possible, the city calls on all residents to reduce their electricity usage to reduce the demand on our infrastructure.”

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