The power outage last Friday (11 March) plunged most parts of the Helderberg into darkness and despair, and lasted more than 21 hours in some parts and affected thousands of residents, including several businesses which had to shut down for the day.
Power was restored after up to 3,5 km of cable was replaced, according to Eskom. It stated customers in Gordon’s Bay, Somerset West and Strand were without electricity supply due to vandalism at the Lourens River substation, situated on the corner of the N2 and Victoria Road.
Later that day, the City also chirped in, stating that despite their efforts the prolonged outage was on the part of Eskom and they had exhausted all options to assist.
The extent of the damage that resulted in a delay in the restoration of electricity supply to customers was not immediately elaborated on by Eskom, who also did not respond to enquiries on the cost report of the vandalism and theft.
Some residents expressed their frustration on social media.
Neal Sassman stated: “Load shedding created the perfect opportunity to steal the cables. Probably not the first and won’t be the last time either.” Marzanne Kruger commented: “Something has to be done about cable theft. It is just unacceptable.”
Others also expressed frustration that during the power outage cellphone reception was also affected, and that food in freezers started to thaw out, as some considered submitting claims to Eskom for losses.
According to Carl Punt, Ward 83 councillor, the Lourens River power substation is Eskom’s only high-tension feed into Helderberg areas, so without it the region won’t have power.
“It was critical for Eskom to replace the stolen cables and bring back the two transformers online,” he said. “During the day the City of Cape Town brought some relief to certain areas by spare capacity of transformers outside the Lourens River substation feeding area. Unfortunately, not all areas can be fed by this limited spare capacity on the City’s reticulation network.”
Punt said with this spare capacity from the City and Eskom’s ability to repair some cables brought one transformer online and power was restored later the evening on 11 March.
“With regular feedback from councillors on social media platforms, the City’s website and organisations like Strand Neighbourhood Watch, residents were informed on a regular basis on the situation on the ground. This incident again shows us the importance of protecting such vulnerable facilities and also that these criminals need to be caught and jailed. Eskom needs to upgrade their security to prevent such a power outage and all cable theft. Also, illegal scrapyards need to be reported and those perpetrators prosecuted, so that we as a community can be ensured of a service we depend on.”
A portion of Somerset West was, however, only affected for a few hours.
Ward 15 councillor Gregory Peck explained a number of areas in Ward 15 (parts of Somerset West) were not affected as power to these areas was not via the Lourens River sub-station.
“There are transformers in the City’s reticulation network that are not fed by the Lourens River substation, which had spare capacity. The electrical engineers were able to switch over some areas and take advantage of the spare capacity. Unfortunately this was not possible to all areas where the power was down, and it is not possible to rotate power between areas that are on or off, to give relief to those areas that were off,” he said.
Peck added that theft and vandalism were a major problem throughout the country, and the City and Western Cape Government had employed more than 1 000 law enforcement auxiliary police and the COCT water and sewer pump stations were being equipped with additional alarms and cameras, to help prevent this type of crime.
Eskom spokesperson Kyle Cookson said that the power utility had security in place at the substation, including alarms, fencing and CCTV cameras, and will now look at options to strengthen these measures.
“Eskom has seen a surge in theft and vandalising of equipment and infrastructure in the Cape metropole over the past few months. Cable theft and vandalising of infrastructure in Eskom supply areas have resulted in prolonged power outages in affected communities that have left customers frustrated.”
The power utility appealed to members of the public to report electricity theft, such as illegal connections, tampering, cable theft and the vandalising of infrastructure.
Members of the public can report incidents by contacting the Eskom Toll-Free Crime Hotline 0800 11 27 22 or local police anonymously.
