BOKSBURG POWER OUTAGE HAS RESIDENTS TAKE TO THE STREETS
Boksburg residents took to the streets today demanding that the City resolve the power issue that has affected them since Wednesday early evening.
Around 60 residents blocked the roads to the Boksburg Customer Care Centre and another group on Rondebult Road, demanding that the City ‘bring back the power’.
Acting Mayoral Committee Member for Energy Cllr Lesiba Mpye addressed residents allaying their concerns before they dispersed.
What happened?
The outage was caused by a fault on the two 33Kv feeders to the Park Rand substation affecting Sunward Park, Freeway Park, Van Dyk Park and Libradene areas. Once the fault was located repairs were carried out. Estimated time for repairs on such cables is 12 hours, if all goes well.
Unfortunately the cables faulted again in the early hours of Friday morning. Once the new fault was found repairs continued with the aim of restoring power Friday morning. Sunward Park Hospital area would be switched on first, and if the load held the remaining areas would be slowly switched on.
A third time, the cable faulted – around midday.
Each time there is a fault the length of the two cables, on both sides, has to be checked with the fault locator. When found, the cables are dug open and exposed and again tested before repairs can take place. The estimated time for repairs is 12 hours.
Once repairs are done and the cable is joined, it is pressure tested and then energized. If there are any further faults on the line, it will be picked up here. If this is the case, the new fault has to found and the same process followed.
Restoring power
When repairs are done and no further faults found, power is restored. First, a small area is switched on. Once the cable stabilises then further load is added – this is to protect the infrastructure. It can take two to three hours to restore power to all affected areas.
You can help
While the City understands that the area has been without power, to help stabilise the line, residents can switch their geysers and electrical heaters off, as this pulls power. This will help to stabilise the grid and residents will be switched on quicker.
When will power be restored?
As the estimated time to repair the 33Kv line is 12 hours, and if no further faults are located, the City could start restoring power at midnight tonight. In which case the affected areas will be back on line Saturday morning.
An appeal to residents to please not visit the site where repairs are being carried out as this causes delays in the work that needs to be done, as well as taking into account Covid-19 regulations.
