An estimated 60 000 kilograms of cables valued at around R6 million, were disconnected by City Power, in Kanana, Rabie Ridge Extension 4.
Last week, community members staged a protest outside the power utility’s Midrand Service Delivery Centre offices, to raise concern about a prolonged power outage which was caused by a damaged pole-mounted transformer.
City Power said in a statement, Kanana informal settlements is one of many across the city, that are contributing towards network overload and infrastructure damage, leading to prolonged outages.
“That transformer failed due to illegal connections” said Isaac Mangena, Spokesperson of City Power.
He said about 10 transformers were fixed in the area, since August this year.
“In August, three transformers were replaced, four in September and now halfway through October, we have already had three damaged transformers.
A new transformer has been installed and we hope that with illegal connections removed, it will hold the load and remain operational for a long time.”
A few months ago, an estimated 18 000 kilograms of cables were connected to
our grid.
Mangena also said iIllegal connections, theft and vandalism continue to significantly contribute towards the loss of power supply.
“These factors are among key contributors of load reduction remaining in effect. We have intensified our efforts around removing illegal connections as part of our broader strategy of reducing the enormous load on the network.”