Pretoria - Power was restored yesterday in some parts of Tshwane after 11 hours without electricity due to maintenance.

Bronkhorstspruit, Zithobeni and Ekangala residents were without electricity after the City announced that some parts had their power supply interrupted to give Eskom technicians time to carry out some work.

However, Pretoria News understands that electricity has now been restored.

Announcing the power outage at the time, the municipality’s spokesperson Lindela Mashigo had said the city had been notified by the power utility before switching off.

Mashigo said Eskom’s technicians were to carry out work.

He said before the outage: “The power utility Eskom will carry out essential work on the transmission line from Witbank to Bronkhorstspruit.”

The metro had been facing major electricity outages in recent weeks as a result of maintenance to curb several challenges, such as cold fronts, load-shedding, illegal connections, and increased theft and vandalism, according to Utilities, Regional Operations and Co-Ordination MMC Temba Fosi. Fosi said some areas, such as Atteridgeville, Hermanstad, Daspoort and Pretoria Gardens in the western regions, had been experiencing low voltages because the system was overloaded. It was suspected that the main switch trips were due to residents trying to keep warm by putting on heaters, which overloaded the system.

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

Fosi said said load-shedding had caused the system to suffer major damages because criminals would target specific substations during that time to steal cables and other equipment.

The metro lost a lot of money through replacing stolen and damaged equipment, he said.

Fosi said the overload on the network was 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,” he said.

Pretoria News