Power cuts for Woodbrook

WOODBROOK residents should brace themselves for ongoing power cuts until the end of April.

According to recent advertisements in the Daily Dispatch there will be a number of power outages in and around East London in the next few weeks as Buffalo City Metro (BCM) carries out maintenance work.

Bhisho will be affected on April 2, mainly affecting Bhisho stadium, the supreme court, Fort Hare University, the Bhisho Contact Centre, HL pump station, the telephone exchange as well as Amatola View residential area.

BCM will be replacing a damaged switchgear at Amatola View substation and the power cut in the area is scheduled to last from 6am to 6pm.

Engineering services portfolio head Ncedo Kumbaca said: “We are carrying out basic maintenance because this infrastructure is from the previous apartheid government.”

Kumbaca said they felt the need to announce the power cuts due to the frustration they sensed from Bhisho Park residents who were left without electricity for at least two weeks due to a replacement of new electrical infrastructure.

“In the case of Woodbrook, we considered the fact that it is an industrial area and we consulted businesses prior, so that their production is not affected.”

The first phase of Woodbrook electricity interruption was to have taken place on Saturday March 25 and yesterday.

The purpose of this interruption is to enable BCM to install two additional panels and change cables to accommodate a new trunk feeder for First National Battery.

BCM warned consumers from the affected areas to treat all apparatus as live during the cuts and to switch off or disconnect all nonessential appliances from supply.

Weather permitting, more outages in Woodbrook will take place on the following dates: April 2; April 9; April 23.

For more information, find the planned power outage notices in the Daily Dispatch.