Probe into mystery fires

AT LEAST two substations have mysteriously caught fire in the past week, with one fire occurring just as power utility Eskom started implementing load shedding.

City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the cause of the blaze at the Allandale, Midrand, substation was being investigated.

Thousands of residents were dealt a double blow on Wednesday when their area was plunged into darkness after the substation caught fire.

Though power was restored after a transformer caught alight, Mangena said the new one experienced problems, leaving a number of areas without power supply.

He said the substation had to be completely shut down.

Businesses have also been affected by the outage.

Last week, a Vanderbijlpark substation caught fire, leaving residents in the dark. Electricity has since been restored.

“The total shutdown is a necessary precautionary measure to avoid a possible disaster due to the oil leak,” Mangena said.

He added that, according to Eskom, the new transformer experienced some problems earlier yesterday.

“Suspicion is that it was affected by the fire. Areas affected include both areas supplied by Eskom and City Power around Tembisa and Midrand, Rabie Ridge, Austin View, Mayibuye and Commercia,” said Mangena, adding that he could not link the fire and the blackouts currently rolled out by Eskom.

Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe could not be reached for comment.

This week, experts said it was concerning that Eskom was implementing load shedding in summer, when electricity demand was low.

Since Saturday, Eskom has been implementing stage 4 load shedding, saying it was “not a cause for concern”.

Energy expert Chris Yelland said he expected power cuts to continue for months. He said he estimated that stage 4 load shedding cost the country’s economy R4 billion.

Eskom said there was a shortage in capacity. “Load shedding is a highly controlled process, implemented to protect the system and to prevent a total collapse of the system or a national blackout. During stage 4 load shedding, about 80% of the country’s demand is still being met.

“Eskom’s maintenance teams are working round the clock to return generation units to the electricity system,” Eskom said in a statement.

The power outages have also caused disruptions to the Rand Water bulk water supply.