We sacrifice a lot, says technician fixing power outages in Gauteng

Load-shedding is a headache for residents, but it can be just as frustrating for the technicians deployed to aid those thrust into darkness.

Long hours, cable theft, fixing ageing infrastructure and dealing with disgruntled community members are some of the problems faced by electrical technicians in Gauteng.

“The infrastructure doesn’t get serviced any more, so when the power comes back again after load-shedding, it blows the substations,” a technician, who asked to remain anonymous, told TimesLIVE. Maintenance of equipment has been flagged repeatedly by both Eskom and City Power, with pledges to improve this, going forward.

He said he had been working as a technician for 13 years. His team focuses on restoring power after system failure.

“Sometimes we get about three to five calls a night. At times you even have to go from door-to-door when complaints are lodged.”

In December, three weeks after his daughter was born, the technician and his team responded to a power outage in Eersterust, east of Pretoria.

“The entire suburb was out. I had to leave my wife and daughter at home and attend to the complaint. We started working on the substation in the afternoon and only finished the next day. We worked more than 26 hours.”

Depending in the area they are working in, they buy energy drinks to cope during long shifts and go without eating for several hours when dealing with faults.

“We basically live off food from garages, because those are the only places you find open at midnight. You are lucky when you find a 24-hour shop open to buy food.”

Apart from power outages, he and his team sometimes have to deal with ill-treatment from disgruntled community members and politicians.

“Sometimes the politicians in the local areas that have been affected by power outages put pressure on our managers and then we get pressure from them to restore power. Then we have to leave everything and jump about to fix the problem.”

At times, cable thieves operate during load-shedding.

“The cable theft guys know the planned schedules and then they steal the copper cables when the electricity is out. By the time the electricity comes back again, they are long gone.” He said this was normally noticed later, when Eskom restored power.

There are also occasions when technicians have to fix substations in crime-ridden areas.

“You basically risk your life going out there in the evenings.”

Multiple suburbs across Johannesburg are regularly without electricity as City Power battles technical problems at its substations.

A Paulshof resident, where electricity was out for four days, described the impact of the prolonged outage..

“There is nothing you can do. You can’t log onto the internet, your phones are flat and you have to charge it in your car or somewhere else.

“Some residents (in the complex) had to go stay with family. All our alarm systems and cameras were down, which created a major safety concern. We had to throw our food away.”