City Power has restored power to more areas hit by power outages due to the underground fire incident on the M1 highway last week. This brings the overall level of restoration to about 80%.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the entity restored power supply to additional parts of Braamfontein using interconnectors. This is following the M1 tunnel fire incident that caused widespread outages.
Mangena said the main street in Braamfontein, Jorrisen Street, along with nearby streets, were switched back on in the early hours of Friday morning.
The additional power restoration has been effected at Siemens, De Korte north and Juta streets.
Mangena said the city still has to restore power to Jorrisen & Wessels Street, Ameshoff & Melle Street, Jorrissen & De Beer Street, Velle Street, Biccard & Jorrisen Street, Summit House Jorissen Street, Convocation house, Voortrekker Pers and Cylon Parking Ground Simmons.
All areas to be restored by Friday evening
He said other affected residents could have their power restored by Friday evening.
“In the early hours of this morning, the team managed to add Siemens, De Korte north and Juta to the list of streets that have been restored.
“The initial plan was to restore all customers. However, due to the enormous load demand, particularly from Wits University, the team could only restore a few. It must be noted that City Power is using a contingency measure to try and provide temporary relief. While repairs on the M1 bridge are still continuing.
“These cables need to be handled with extra caution in order to avoid overloading and damaging them in the process. However, City Power is currently working on preparing two additional cables. This is to assist in carrying that massive load from Wits and the remaining customers. Once this process is complete, all affected customers could be fully restored later this evening [Friday],” said Mangena.
Earlier this week, Mangena said power was restored in areas around Parktown West, Braampark and Liberty Life. Also Thuso House, Metro Center and other buildings, bringing the overall levels of restoration to about 80%.
“While this is ongoing, the work of replacing the burnt and stolen cables beneath the M1 bridge is still unfolding alongside. City Power has admitted that this work could take a bit longer. That’s why a contingency measure, through the use of interconnectors, had to be implemented.
Vandalism
The outage triggered by acts of vandalism has affected customers in Parktown, Newtown, Braamfontein, the Johannesburg CBD, and surrounding areas. Customers can assist by unplugging all appliances to ensure smooth restoration and treat all electricity points as live all the time,” said Mangena.
The underground fire broke out on the M1 north highway near Smit Street and the double-decker section on Wednesday last week.
An investigation has revealed that 300 metres of copper cables had been cut and stolen.
City Power’s group executive for service delivery centres, Charles Tlouane, gave an update earlier. He said it is going to cost R23-million to fix the damage. This to replace burned underground cables on the M1 highway. To also install new interconnector cables between Fort and Braamfontein substations.
