City Power urges communities to stop igniting fires around electricity infrastructure

City Power has called on communities to stop igniting veld fires around electricity infrastructure. The power utility says it is dealing with incidents where pylons and substations are destroyed by man-made veld fires.

#Update #MediaStatement

City power would like to warn against Man-made veld fires near it’s infrastructure?^GR pic.twitter.com/AIxsC9GpKC

— @CityPowerJhb (@CityPowerJhb) July 18, 2020

In the latest incident, a transformer substation in Mondeor caught alight, destroying infrastructure and electrical equipment.

City Power Spokesperson Isaac Mangena says this has also affected power supply.

“This affected power supply to areas including, Eshton, Cardagan, Constantia, parts of Columbine Drive and also the surrounding areas. Technicians are attending to the outage to ensure electricity is restored to the affected customers. Temporary solutions to restore power to the affected customers are being explored until a new mini-substation can be installed. The fire started when the veld fire from the nearby bushes caught the roof of the transformer substation.”

#Update

The community is urged to refrain from putting on fires under or near electricity infrastructure as our transformer substations in Mondeor caught fire last night?^GR pic.twitter.com/0svCwvWNsw

— @CityPowerJhb (@CityPowerJhb) July 18, 2020

Eskom in early July urged customers to use electricity sparingly after two generation units tripped at the Medupi and Tutuka power stations.

The power utility says the trip led to a constraint in the power generating system.

“We lost a unit each at Medupi and at Tutuka totaling about 1 300 megawatts. This constraint in the supply situation may persist through the weekend. Eskom teams are hard at work trying to return these units to service. The public’s co-operation in managing demand will help us supply the country’s demand through the peak period,” Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said.