Some residents in Welkom, Free State, are blaming Eskom for electricity outage. Transformers have exploded leaving scores of residents in Bronville and Thabong without electricity.
The power utility has warned that illegal connections are the cause of the explosion.
Residents have raised concerns as they have to endure cold weather without electricity for more than three weeks. They are pointing fingers to Eskom and the municipality.
“We are struggling with electricity and it is true that there are illegal electricity connections. But it is not our fault, because we have notified Eskom a long time ago to fix our boxes, but they never came. They have a list of all houses that have problems with electricity boxes,” says one of the residents.
Eskom is busy checking illegal electricity connections and those found at fault are charged.
Free State Eskom Spokesperson, Sikonathi Mantshantsha, says illegal connections put pressure on the power grid leading to damages in transformers.
“As I indicated, we are waiting for the additional transformer. Even if we get it, there is no guarantee that supply will remain on, due to the illegal connections – the transformer is likely to blow the same day.”
Matjhabeng Municipality was not immediately available to comment.
Power outages are sometimes caused by faults on the network. It is important that customers report unannounced outages to Eskom/municipality to ascertain the cause and have it attended to by authorised personnel.
Eskom tech. attending to a fault at Ga-kgapane village. pic.twitter.com/0a9l3ZyX9m
— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) June 24, 2020
