Formal channel needed

There was much frustration for East Bank residents over the weekend as an unplanned power outage continued for almost 48 hours.

Residents took to social media to ask what was happening, with multiple queries being posted on Talk of the Town’s Facebook group. We had to decline some of the posts as their questions were already being answered on prior posts.

TotT also posted updates from the municipality’s contracted service provider CDR Electrical as it was supplied to us, albeit on an “unofficial” basis.

CDR came under a lot of flak from irate residents, and unfairly so, because it did not cause the problem and it was not easy to isolate and repair it. Some residents even begrudged CDR staff taking a break to get some sleep after working on the problem for long hours, late into the night.

But as CDR explained, live high-voltage and fatigue are a very dangerous combination. For the safety of all concerned, those workers needed to rest.

What CDR can be faulted on, however, is not having an official channel through which statements can be sent proactively and media queries can be answered.The updates were all very piecemeal and sent to various parties who contacted CDR.

Previously, CDR CEO Russell JacksonMoss said he was constrained from doing this because such information had to be channelled through the municipality.

This is impractical when information is needed urgently, outside of office hours. It is something that CDR needs to address with the municipality.

As for the cause of the blackout, in a reply to a query from the Port Alfred Residents and Ratepayers Association, Jackson-Moss said an electricity cable had been damaged by a civils contractor, who had been warned not to use his earthmoving equipment too close to the cables.

CDR then had to dig to find the closest joint, a tedious process on difficult terrain. A second fault also had to be located and this required replacing about 70m of cable and installing two high-voltage cable joints.

Jackson-Moss also mentioned an appalling level of neglect and disrepair in the electricity infrastructure.

TotT asked the municipality to respond to the accusation about the civils contractor, and whether payment would be sought for damage.

However, the municipality said the fault was found some distance away from the point where the contractor was working.

“At this point in time there is no conclusion to fault the contractor as the reason for the electrical fault. Because of the above reason, no payment is expected from the contractor,” the municipality said.