AN EXPLOSION at a power station threw major parts of East London into darkness yesterday, forcing many businesses to shut their doors for the day.
The outage was due to an exploded power breaker at the Chiselhurst power station.
The manager of operations for Buffalo City Metro (BCM), Johan Olivier , confirmed the damage when the Daily Dispatch visited the site yesterday. No one was injured.
“Incidents like these are not common but can happen as equipment ages. One of the breakers exploded, but we don’t know the reason right now,” said Olivier.
Areas affected by yesterday’s outage included the East London CBD, Nahoon, Vincent, Selborne, Cambridge and Southernwood.
The power went out just after 9am yesterday. The Dispatch spoke to Olivier at around 1pm and he said fixing the fault would normally take between eight and 10 hours. However, he hoped to restore electricity within two hours.
By 4pm yesterday BCM spokesman Keith Ngesi confirmed that electricity was restored in Vincent.
“The city manager is in constant contact with the electricians on site. The rest of the affected areas will be back in about three hours,” he said.
Engineers on site yesterday were working on ways to find a temporary fix for the damage done and to restore power.
As the metro struggled to restore power yesterday, many businesses in East London sent employees home and shut operations for the day.
Hemingways Mall marketing manager Estee Roos said the mall had backup generators for the parking and common areas like walkways and bathrooms.
Pick n Pay, Woolworths and Checkers stayed open using their own generators.
The financial impact on the stores that had to close business for the day was not yet clear.
Vincent Park manager Joseph Parsley said the outage meant a big loss in business.
“This downtime means a loss of turnover, profit and trade, and the effects will only be known once the lights are back and we can establish exactly how much damage was incurred on business,” he said.
The spokeswoman for the Life Healthcare Group in the Border-Kei area, Ailsa Thorpe , said the power outage affected the hospital in the Southernwood area.
“All Life hospitals have two generators each and these provide power to all patient areas, with limited power to administrative and office areas,” Thorpe said.
Olivier said replacing the blown breaker would cost about R150000. He said an outage would be scheduled for later in the week, when power usage was low, to replace it.
l Grahamstown residents also found themselves without power for a few hours yesterday.
Makana mayor Zamuxolo Peter said the outage was caused by a fault with an Eskom line in one of the areas.
“Apparently one of the poles had caught fire and Eskom workers had to switch off the electricity in areas around the town to fix it,” he said.
In Molteno, which forms part of the Inkwanca Municipality, electricity challenges have angered residents.
DA PR councillor Magda Botha said there is an arrangement between the areas of Harare and Dennekruin in Molteno to share power.
“The Dennekruin residents have now decided to protest to the municipality offices to get their grievances heard.
The Molteno community has received no communication or updates from the municipality about the electricity crisis thus far.”
Harare residents yesterday morning surrounded the pole where the switch is made and prevented Dennekruin from having power . — Additional reporting by David Macgregor and Adrienne Carlisle
Power station explosion shuts down EL
The outage was due to an exploded power breaker at the Chiselhurst power station.
The manager of operations for Buffalo City Metro (BCM), Johan Olivier , confirmed the damage when the Daily Dispatch visited the site yesterday. No one was injured.
“Incidents like these are not common but can happen as equipment ages. One of the breakers exploded, but we don’t know the reason right now,” said Olivier.
Areas affected by yesterday’s outage included the East London CBD, Nahoon, Vincent, Selborne, Cambridge and Southernwood.
The power went out just after 9am yesterday. The Dispatch spoke to Olivier at around 1pm and he said fixing the fault would normally take between eight and 10 hours. However, he hoped to restore electricity within two hours.
By 4pm yesterday BCM spokesman Keith Ngesi confirmed that electricity was restored in Vincent.
“The city manager is in constant contact with the electricians on site. The rest of the affected areas will be back in about three hours,” he said.
Engineers on site yesterday were working on ways to find a temporary fix for the damage done and to restore power.
As the metro struggled to restore power yesterday, many businesses in East London sent employees home and shut operations for the day.
Hemingways Mall marketing manager Estee Roos said the mall had backup generators for the parking and common areas like walkways and bathrooms.
Pick n Pay, Woolworths and Checkers stayed open using their own generators.
The financial impact on the stores that had to close business for the day was not yet clear.
Vincent Park manager Joseph Parsley said the outage meant a big loss in business.
“This downtime means a loss of turnover, profit and trade, and the effects will only be known once the lights are back and we can establish exactly how much damage was incurred on business,” he said.
The spokeswoman for the Life Healthcare Group in the Border-Kei area, Ailsa Thorpe , said the power outage affected the hospital in the Southernwood area.
“All Life hospitals have two generators each and these provide power to all patient areas, with limited power to administrative and office areas,” Thorpe said.
Olivier said replacing the blown breaker would cost about R150000. He said an outage would be scheduled for later in the week, when power usage was low, to replace it.
l Grahamstown residents also found themselves without power for a few hours yesterday.
Makana mayor Zamuxolo Peter said the outage was caused by a fault with an Eskom line in one of the areas.
“Apparently one of the poles had caught fire and Eskom workers had to switch off the electricity in areas around the town to fix it,” he said.
In Molteno, which forms part of the Inkwanca Municipality, electricity challenges have angered residents.
DA PR councillor Magda Botha said there is an arrangement between the areas of Harare and Dennekruin in Molteno to share power.
“The Dennekruin residents have now decided to protest to the municipality offices to get their grievances heard.
The Molteno community has received no communication or updates from the municipality about the electricity crisis thus far.”
Harare residents yesterday morning surrounded the pole where the switch is made and prevented Dennekruin from having power . — Additional reporting by David Macgregor and Adrienne Carlisle
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