50 hours of sweat and tears
WHITE RIVER - The 50hour power outage in town this past weekend was the most stressful event of his 20 years in local government. This is according to municipal manager of the City of Mbombela Local Municipality (CMLM), Neil Diamond.
In a statement released on Monday, he explained that the power outage was not due to a lack of maintenance. It started at around midnight on Wednesday when White River's transformer exploded. Power was only fully restored in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Infuriated residents, however, faced another shorter power outage on Sunday when the
City had to make some minor adjustments to the power protection of the replacement 132 kilovolt transformer.
Diamond explained that the transformer exploding was an unplanned technical equipment failure, as the White River substation was serviced on July 7. He further stated that the substation was upgraded with a new surge protection unit and nine new relays were installed.
“The electricity infrastructure is well within its useful lifespan and this failure was unexpected," he said.
Mbombela officials worked non-stop for the 50 hours. Diamond apologised to residents and instructed officials from the water and energy departments to submit detailed service continuity plans to avoid service disruptions in future.
An urgent submission was made to the city council for the procurement of a new 132/11 kilovolt transformer for White River. The City has also allocated R50 million in the medium-term budget to strengthen the 132 kilovolt power supply to Rocky’s Drift and White River from the main Nelsriver substation, which will
The transformer exploding was an unplanned technical equipment failure
mitigate energy failures and improve the city’s response times in the future.
“The City will be better prepared for such mechanical failure in future,” Diamond vowed. He added that he took full responsibility for any communication issues which arose over the weekend.
Rowan Torr, the newly elected ward councillor of White River, described the situation as “unplanned and unfortunate” when he visited the site where the new 132/11 kilovolt transformer was being installed on Friday. It was moved from Nelsriver through the intervention of the municipal manager. Torr thanked the municipality for acting so promptly as, “these things happen”.
Chairman of the White River Ratepayers’ Association (WRRA), Piet Skead said on Friday that he is going to war with this electricity disruption issue, as "it has a knock-on effect".
“The electricity interruption is not only a cause of concern for the businesses that are set to lose out on tourists during the long weekend, but it also causes water problems. The water pumps are not working and this causes low water pressure and water disruptions. When the power comes back on the pressure from the water flowing through these pipes might cause leaks and burst pipes again,” Skead said.
Nicholas Zahlten, a former White River resident, also criticised the municipality. “Negligence to maintain and service the electricity grid and negligence to ensure that there is a backup transformer in place led to this mess.”
Neyola Banks, a White River resident, complained that that her security alarm is dead and that the backup battery is also drained.
“I can’t sleep. I am scared. I am looking to the window every two minutes with a little prayer. It has been two days.”
An emergency meeting was set up between residents and City officials on Monday evening. Lowvelder will bring readers the full story in Friday's edition.