By: Nomatshawe Bangani
Large parts of East London were left without electricity as Buffalo City Metro Municipality was conducting maintenance work on Sunday, February 17.
A statement released by BCMM stated that electricity supply would be interrupted to consumers supplied by BCMM from 06h30 to 18h00, for the purpose of replacing 132 kV conductors and insulators of the dual structures that run overhead transformers 1&2 at progress Switch House and to erect temporary busbar bypass structures to enable different 132 kV lines to feed from different transformers.
Residents took to social media to vent out their frustrations of how the 12 hour power outage was affecting them. Most of them complaining about not being able to feed their families throughout the day, food getting spoilt and not being able to prepare school and work clothes in time.
Although the power was scheduled to be back by 6pm, in some areas the electricity only came back after 8 pm.
A Facebook user Jaco Botha vented out his frustration after the electricity was not back in time. He wrote “20:00 and still no power and we were not included in the original post Nahoon Valley Park, unacceptable to say the least.”
Buffalo City Metro Municipality Spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya said it is necessary to maintain the network and for the city to do a thorough job they need as much time as possible.
“It takes a while longer to re-energise the power back but in some areas we were able to restore the power before the scheduled time. I request residents to bare with us in such situations” Ngwenya said.
Nahoon residents can expect interruption of electricity on Tuesday from 09h00 to 16h00 as BCMM carries out its planned maintenance on Mini sub-stations around the area.