Gauteng electricity Eskom

Electric powerlines over sunrise. Photo: USGS

Eskom ‘dealing with’ high number of power outages across Gauteng

The power situation is not good anywhere in SA right now. But it seems to be particularly bad in Gauteng today.

Gauteng electricity Eskom

Electric powerlines over sunrise. Photo: USGS

Load shedding continues to make the lives of South Africans miserable. It’s also hurting plenty of bank accounts and leaving some in the dark and in completely dangerous situations. With horrid weather having plagued parts of Johannesburg and Gauteng in the last few days, Eskom is struggling with some breakdowns that have nothing to do with load shedding.

Eskom scrambles to fix Gauteng power outages

Eskom revealed on Saturday that its technicians were “working tirelessly” to restore power supply to at least five areas. Like most things in the province over the last few days, the rain was causing chaos.

ALSO READ – South Africa: Today’s latest news and headlines, Saturday 5 February 2022

“We would like to extend our apologies for the delay in supply restoration to Broadacres, Douglasdale, Fourways, Lonehill + Paulshof Technicians are working tirelessly to restore supply however, the heavy rains are causing delays ETR 13:00”.

Eskom

But while those repairs were ongoing, the energy also delivered more bad news. They’re getting SO MANY calls from people reporting faults, delays should be expected.

“We are experiencing a high number of reported faults across GP due to heavy rains. Techs have been dispatched. There might be delays due to the high number of calls. We request our customers to be patient as we attend to the affected areas.”

Power system a mess in Gauteng?

At the start of February, Eskom and City Power admitted to a “total loss of supply” in Roodepoort areas. That was later identified as a trip at the Eskom Princess substation.

Parts of Soweto have also been disconnected again. Eskom technicians have been going around the area this week installing prepared meters. Split meters were installed while heavily armed guards watched on. Split metres are metres that are separate from the keypad that the customer uses. The metre itself is locked away at a different location to make sure it can’t be easily bypassed.

Technicians had originally had to halt their installations days earlier as residents blocked their access.

Thunderstorms are expected to continue over parts of Gauteng for the rest of the weekend.