City Power on track to restore electricity in Lenasia by Wednesday after substation caught alight

City Power is optimistic about meeting deadlines to restore power at the Lunar substation which caught alight on Saturday.  

The City of Johannesburg power utility said its technicians worked throughout Monday night.

The utility's spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the work is mainly focused on testing protection functions which are necessary to safeguard the transformer and substation from fire.  

The substation sustained damage from an explosion on Saturday, disrupting power supply to Lenasia South, Migson Manor, Finetown, Mountain View and surrounding areas.  

Restoration efforts enabled power to be reinstated in Ennerdale. 

“The focus will shift to the auxiliary transformer. While it was tested and cleared yesterday [Monday], it must be connected to the system and material to achieve this is being sourced,” said Mangena.

He said they will do more tests after the connection and further tests will be done by a team of operators on all distributors. 

“The substation will also have to be energised after being off for a few days,” he said.  

He said the utility was on course to meet the estimated restoration time, which is Wednesday.  

He encouraged customers to partner with the utility in fighting crime related to theft and vandalism of electricity infrastructure.  

“This may hamper our efforts to restore supply. The teams are committed to ensuring repairs at the Lunar substation are concluded and supply is restored as soon as possible. 

“Customers are advised to unplug appliances during the outage to prevent inrush when supply is restored. This precaution can help avoid network trips, ensuring uninterrupted power supply.”

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