City power on track to complete Observatory substation repairs, restore power in 7 days
Johannesburg power utility, City Power says technicians have made significant progress with repairs at the Observatory substation which was gutted by fire on Saturday morning.
The fire interrupted power supply to customers in Bellevue, Bellevue East, Bruma, Cyrildene De Wetshof, Houghton Estate, Kensington, Linksfield Ridge, Malvern, Observatory, Observatory Ext, Troyeville Yeoville and surrounding areas.
City Power says a thorough investigation will determine the fire's cause and the damage's actual extent.
In an update issued on Sunday evening, City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the team has made tremendous progress.
"The suspected 88kv oil-filled cable faulty cable spot has been identified, trenching to expose the faulty cable is in progress and we are hoping to complete this process in the early hours of Monday morning.
“The cable is about 1,5 meters deep and it requires an estimated 2 hours to find the joint.
“We plead with the residents to exercise patience while we work on this.
“Once this has been completed and found to be the correct spot, the following process will commence: The exposure of the faulty cable spot, further testing of the cable to do the final verification and flushing out the contaminated oil (This process may take days)," he said.
Mangena assured that the team is still on track to fully restore power supply to all affected customers in the next 7 days.
"We apologise for the inconvenience this is causing to the residents, especially the disruption to their lives and livelihoods."
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