The City of Ekurhuleni worked around the clock to restore power to all areas of Kempton Park after they experienced a power supply interruption since Friday, 20 September 2019.
The interruption, which affected many areas in Kempton Park, was caused by a veld fire that burned a 66 000 Volt oil-filled power cable that runs through a tunnel between a substation and affected customers.
The 66 000 Volt oil filled cable, due to its technically complicated nature, requires more than 5 days to restore to its original functionality. It needs to be cleaned, flushed with oil, refilled with new oil, vacuumed, and tested in a time-controlled procedure. This work is done by personnel with highly specialized skills, from the cable manufacturer.
Due to the length of the period it takes to restore the affected cable to its original functionality, some areas were connected to the grid through a temporary power cable. Due to the limited capacity of the temporary cable, some areas remain without power to avoid overloading and tripping of the other main supplies.
The City is also leveraging on its partnership with Eskom and City of Tshwane to speedily complete this work by obtaining much-needed components. This is the type of institutional relationship that the City has with neighbouring Municipalities and Eskom.
The power supply interruption that happed in Benoni from Friday, which has since been addressed, was not related to this incident.
The City of Ekurhuleni apologizes for the inconvenience caused to the customers.
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