A whopping R800 million has been invested into electricity infrastructure across the City of Cape Town from July to October.
The funds were used to conduct necessary repairs, maintenance and critical upgrades to enable reliable power supply to consumers by the municipality, including the refurbishment of light-emitting diode (LED) luminaires in the Helderberg. Despite the investment into the work though, it said Eskom’s continuous load shedding at high stages has a detrimental impact on municipal electricity infrastructure, as it often leads to extended outages after load shedding and high volumes of service requests.
“Our maintenance, upgrades and infrastructure repair programme for reliable energy supply is absolutely critical and top notch, and R800 million has been invested over the last few months,” said Beverely van Reenen, Mayoral Committee member for Energy.
“However, Eskom’s load shedding hammers our electrical infrastructure. Our infrastructure is not designed for this level of continuous load shedding and we should not underestimate the impact it has on electricity infrastructure.”
This year, the City protected its customers from more than 60% of Eskom’s load shedding, or 1 700 hours of the 3 000 hours of load-shedding. According to the City, when load shedding-related outages occur, restoration often takes time to complete and City teams work around-the-clock to help customers as fast as possible.
“Our teams are working throughout the festive season and will continue to carry out maintenance and upgrades to critical infrastructure as well as dealing with damage caused by load shedding, including from theft and vandalism done under the cover of darkness,” Van Reenen assured.
She further urged residents to report damage to municipal electrical infrastructure, while also reiterating that the City is offering a reward of R5 000 to anyone who provides information that leads to an arrest, confiscation of stolen or illegal goods or the handing in of illegal or stolen goods. This reward is also applicable to information leading to the arrest of people vandalising, damaging or stealing electricity infrastructure or installing illegal connections.
To report damage to municipal electrical infrastructure, send an SMS to 31220 or an email to power@capetown.gov.za. Alternatively, anonymous tip-offs can be made by contacting the Public Emergency Centre on 021 480 7700 or at your local police station.
