Power cuts likely here to stay

Bring out the candles and buy paraffin, as power cuts could be a regular occurrence in Komani in the foreseeable future.

This is according to Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality (EMLM), which says areas around town may continue to experience localised loadshedding during peak hours.

Speaking to The Rep this week, EMLM spokesperson Lonwabo Kowa said a number of factors including illegal connections, increased usage, maintenance issues and loss of revenue had all added to the unreliable power supply.

Komani, Mlungisi and Ezibeleni have experienced regular power interruptions in recent weeks, causing anger among residents.

On Monday, Sandringham resident Mihlali Somi went to the EMLM offices to demand that the power be restored, after it had been off since the previous Thursday. Sandringham previously

“shared the same substation as Nonesi Mall. Our line has now been linked with New Rest, we do not know why. This is causing us more power outages than before,” Somi said.

Other areas affected included the army base, New Rest and Factory Road, which

Kowa confirmed were restored by Tuesday. These areas and Sabatha and Westbourne were in the dark as recently as Wednesday.

Kowa said, Sandringham, Southbourne, the army base and New Rest were now connected at the Connaught Avenue substation which feeds from the Ebden Street substation.

The line from the Nonesi

“

Mall is for alternative supply if there are problems with the Connaught Avenue substation which offers a better supply. The line was moved rom its previous substation after the substation feeding the mall caught fire.

To ensure supply for the

“affected areas, an alternative means had to be made,” he said.

The common thread behind the regular power interruptions, Kowa said, was due to a system overload, especially during the peak hours of 6pm to 8pm.

He said one of the major contributing factors was that more houses had flats constructed in their yards. Some people have

“tampered with the municipal infrastructure by stealing electricity. This has contributed massively to the low revenue collection by the municipality. More than R30m is lost

“ through illegal connections and tampering monthly,” Kowa said.

He added that the closure of the finance offices during the lockdown had resulted in a huge drop in revenue. While

“we gave out our bank account numbers, there was less income. Most people prefer paying at the offices.”

Kowa also said EMLM was having trouble keeping up with its Eskom debt as revenue bcollection was insufficient. He did not disclose any information on how much EMLM owed to Eskom, nor when the most recent payment was made.

Asked if Komani residents should expect more power interruptions this winter or if the municipality had a plan to address the problem, he said EMLM was advocating for economical usage of power by businesses and households. We are not anticipating any “outages except for normal faults. Overloading remains a possibility and this, at times, leads to load reductions where certain areas are switched off during peak hours to avoid outages in the entire town.”

To address the power theft issue, he said: There is a

“monitoring team which checks and blocks accounts when there is tampering. A number of illegal connections have been disconnected. Smart meters will be implemented no later than this year to curb tampering.”