Cape Town - Residents in Tuscany Glen are fuming after being left in the dark for about 10 hours at a time.
“We have been having power surges for the last two weeks. Today alone we have been sitting without electricity since the morning. We call Eskom and they tell us there is nothing they can do or they say it’s the cables. We don’t see any van anywhere to show they are working on it,” said community member Warren Coetzee.
He added that the most vulnerable in the community rely on electricity and there is nothing they can do in that long period.
“The food defrosts. I have a fish business. The fish goes soft and I can’t sell it to people, I have lost about R15 000 in business. You phone them, and you just hold and hold,” said Coetzee.
Community member Neil Theys said this had been occurring since May 19 and they sometimes have 12-hour blackouts.
“Whenever there is loadshedding it takes about six to 12 hours before we are back on the grid. When we call, we hold on for about 45 minutes to an hour to get help, what about the people on oxygen tanks?” said Theys.
Their demands include an end to blackouts with immediate effect, sustainable short-term solutions for the Tuscany Glen community, and getting the truth from Eskom. They want feedback in the next seven days.
Eskom said customers in Blackheath, Dennemere, Kleinvlei and Tuscany Glen and surrounding areas have experienced prolonged periods without electricity.
“This is due to cable theft and vandalism on the electrical network, resulting in one of the main cables supplying the area being out of service. This led to significant delays in restoration of supply to customers after loadshedding,” said Eskom in a statement.
Due to this main cable being out of service, it necessitated the network to be reconfigured for the continuity of supply. Due to the network reconfiguration, customers had to be moved to alternative loadshedding blocks, added Eskom.
Tuscany Glen and Kleinvlei customers moved from Block 1 to Block 15 during loadshedding on Friday, while Dennemere customers moved from Block 15 to Block 1.
“Eskom is currently in the process of replacing the damaged cable and has secured additional resources to expedite this process. Alternating technical teams will work through the night in efforts to normalise the network.
Eskom urges customers in these areas to switch off geysers and pool pumps during loadshedding, and to wait at least 30 minutes before switching on geysers and pool pumps after electricity is restored to avoid the possible tripping of electricity,” said Eskom.
This is exacerbated when the network is abnormal as in the case of customers in these areas who have experienced frequent power outages after their supply has been restored after loadshedding.
When cold load restoration occurs, operators will need to switch on electricity systematically, meaning sections of customer’s electricity supply will be restored later than others in order not to overload the network that can cause further loss of supply.
Weekend Argus