No foul play suspected in Balfour substation blaze, says Eskom

As Eskom on Monday moved to assess the damage caused to the Balfour substation in Mpumalanga which caught alight at the weekend, the power utility said it did not suspect any foul play.

“Early indications are that this was as a result of a lightning strike,” said the power utility’s deputy spokesperson Dikatso Mothae,

The fire ravaged parts of the station, leading to a power outage in some areas.

“Electricity supply to some 5,800 Eskom customers and the bulk supply to Dipaliseng Municipality were affected. Information regarding the full extent of the damage, impact and the expected restoration time must still be established,” Mothae added.

She said investigators were waiting for the facility to cool down and be safe before investigators could access it. This was expected to happen on Monday afternoon.

Eskom apologised to its customers for the inconvenience caused.

“Customers are advised to treat all electricity lines, wires and installations as live during this and any power outage,” Mothae added.

Meanwhile, Eskom said despite a constrained and vulnerable system, it did not expect any load-shedding on Monday.

“There is no load-shedding expected today, as a result of a drop in demand during the holiday period and a return of some generating units to service. Eskom has since Sunday, not utilised emergency diesel to supplement capacity,” the power utility said in a statement.

“We however remind customers that as the system continues to be vulnerable and unpredictable, the possibility of load-shedding remains.”