Huge cut 'due to on-off policy'

2008-04-24 21:32

Johannesburg - The power failures in Kempton Park were because of stresses on the power network resulting from them being switched on and off during load shedding and having no maintenance, said the Democratic Alliance on Thursday.

DA MP for Kempton Park Mike Waters said: "I have it on good authority that ongoing load-shedding is placing extra stress on the electricity network due to equipment continuously being switched off and on off," said.

"The fact is, if the substation in question had been serviced regularly residents would most probably not have ended up without electricity," he said of a fire at a substation on Tuesday which plunged the area into darkness.

Businesses in the CBD would again have power, at the earliest, by Sunday, said Ekurhuleni municipality spokesperson Zweli Dlamini.

Has big effect on hospital

Assistant MD of Ellin Clinic in the CBD, Judith van der Westhuizen, said: "It does have a big impact on us, but with good planning we did prepare for this... and installed a generator last year at huge cost...

"It does have quite a financial implication on us.

"Sometimes, we have to put the generator off because we can't run at full capacity all the time.

"As a ball park figure, it costs the clinic about R1 500 a day to run the generator. We keep our patients informed and they are taking it very well."

The Festival Mall ice rink had been closed "due to a total meltdown," said a blog post run by Tri Ice Sports.

The DA called for a full investigation and added that the metro should reimburse residents for the losses they had suffered as a result of the interruption to the power supply.

Power had been restored on Thursday to about 75% of Kempton Park, excluding areas in the CBD.

- SAPA