Following a devastating fire on the M1 tunnel in Johannesburg, City Power is reinstating supply in parts of Braamfontein.
The fire led to a prolonged power outage, as most parts of Johannesburg have not had electricity since the incident.
CITY POWER RESTORES ELECTRICITY IN PARTS OF JOBURG
City Power teams have been working hard to resolve the outages caused by the blaze.
Following the incident, City Power said preliminary findings indicate that a cable connecting the Braamfontein substation to the Fordsburg substation caught fire during the suspected cable theft and vandalism.
The utility then said no alternative methods were available to supply the affected customers as the City of Johannesburg did not have enough generators to power all affected suburbs.
As part of ongoing efforts to reinstate supply, the power utility said it managed to restore power to a section of Parktown West just after midnight on Thursday.
As of Thursday midday, City Power is reinstating supply in parts of Braamfontein.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said that as part of the ongoing efforts to restore supply to customers affected by the M1 tunnel fire incident, customers should note that there will be a brief intermittent power supply interruption of no more than 30 minutes.
Mangena said this is because the team is increasingly connecting more cables and livening up additional feeder-boards.
“Customers should therefore not panic and are urged not to log calls as this is being done to restore other customers,” he said.
Customers in the following streets/areas are urged to unplug household appliances:
- Jorrison Street
- Simmons Street
- Jorissen & Wessels Street
- Ameshoff Melle Street
- Jorrisson & De Beer Street
- Velle Street
- Biccard & Jorrison Street
- Summit House Jorissen Street
- Convocation House
- Voortrekker Pers
- Cylon Parking Ground Simmons
RESTORATION BEING PHASED IN GRADUALLY
City Power also said restoring supply is being phased in gradually to avoid overloading the system and inadvertently triggering a power trip.
Mangena explained that this is part of the continuous efforts that are unfolding parallel to replacing the burnt and stolen cables, which will take a bit longer to complete.
In addition, a new 88KV (Kilovolt) cable has been laid inside the 1.2-kilometre tunnel beneath the M1 highway in Braamfontein.
The widespread outage triggered by acts of vandalism has affected customers in:
- Parktown
- Newtown
- Braamfontein
- Johannesburg CBD and surrounding areas.
“The team is now working on restoring parts of Parktown West to add to the list of areas that have been restored, such as Braampark, Liberty Life, Thuso House, Metro Center, and other buildings.
Customers can assist by unplugging all appliances to ensure smooth restoration and treat all electricity points as live,” Mangena said.