Power outages hit Pietermaritzburg residents during cold front

Parts of Pietermaritzburg were left without power after numerous breakdowns as the cold front and snow sweep across the province.

The Msundizi municipality said technicians were working hard to resolve ongoing power outages. 

The municipality said there were various areas in the city that were affected, including Mpumuza, Prestbury, Morcom, Brookby and surrounding areas. 

"While the teams responded promptly on the matter, the speed of work being undertaken is dependent on the cable faults that caused the outages, which started last week and were restored in some areas. However, due to inclement weather conditions over the weekend, the cable failed again," said acting communications manager Anele Makhanya.

"The vandalism on some switching stations, if one circuit is affected, has an impact on other circuits as well. This prevents the utilisation of possible ring feeds."

Makhanya said the municipality was completing the construction and commissioning of the Morcom purification substation in an attempt to split the supply to Mpumuza from Prestbury. 

She said the new substation will have its own dedicated feed to enhance the load transfer capability of the system. 

"The estimated restoration time is 10 hours. The residents are reminded that when the electricity supply returns, they must not switch on appliances such as heaters, stoves, air conditioners, geysers and pool pumps all at once. They are advised to switch on each appliance 15 minutes apart to reduce the risk of prolonged outages."

Makhanya said load-shedding also hugely affects electrical equipment, as it was not designed for such frequent switching. 

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