No early end to blackout for Bay

Some Port Elizabeth residents could be without electricity until Thursday while municipal staff work feverishly to repair the demolished substation that blew up in Walmer on Friday.

Municipal spokesman Lourens Schoeman said yesterday that in view of the problem load-shedding in the rest of the city would be cancelled for the next three days and resume again on Thursday.

The explosion at the William Moffett Expressway substation has left areas of Port Elizabeth in the dark the whole weekend, with bad weather preventing municipal workers from finishing their repairs at the weekend.

The affected areas are Greenshields Park, Mangold Park, Charlo and between 6th and 17th Avenue in Walmer.

Crippled

The power outage has crippled businesses and residents alike.

Schoeman said: “The rain of Saturday night and Sunday has delayed the progress of municipal workers doing excavations for the erection of an emergency temporary electricity substation. This means it will probably not be possible to start restoring power to the affected areas before late on Tuesday, at the earliest.”

Schoeman said electricity would be gradually restored as repairs progressed, and power in some areas might only be restored later in the week.

“The municipality apologises for the inconvenience caused by the incident, but calls for those affected to be patient and understanding. Circuit breakers that are not designed to be switched on and off at regular intervals, as has been done because of the current load-shedding, caused the explosion that led to damage of millions of rands.”

More patrols

Police and private security companies have stepped up patrols in the affected areas to curb any crime that might be attempted under cover of darkness.

Captain Rassie Erasmus of the flying squad said: “We‘ve been getting a lot of calls from community members reporting suspect vehicles and people. It‘s great to see people taking a proactive approach to their own safety. I hope that they will continue with the reporting of things they see as suspicious, even when the power comes back on.”

Erasmus said criminals knew the power was out and they could take advantage. However, neighbours watching out for neighbours, and keeping the police and security companies informed about the movement in their areas would lower the chance of any such incidents.

No comment on crime

The Atlas and ADT security companies both said they had increased their patrols in the affected areas as well, but would not comment on if there had been an increase in crime.

One of the affected home owners, Jill Wilkinson, said the food in the fridge had gone to waste and her fridge was now leaking. “It is a depressing situation because I had already done my monthly shopping and now I need to do it again, spending more money.”

Not only does she have to buy food every day, but at her daughter‘s bath time she has to drive to her relatives in Cotswold, where she also takes the opportunity to charge her torch and cellphone batteries.

“This also consumes a lot of fuel.”

Business was not as usual at the Walmer Park Shopping Centre and others in the area.

Out of the 96 tenants in the centre only 15 were open on Sunday, some operating with generators and others operating in the dark because the centre does not allow candles.

Business down

Beat It game shop manager Johannes Fourie said business had been quiet over the past three days. “People don‘t come to the centre.”

St Elmo‘s restaurant owner Fernando Escola said he now made about 35% of what he normally did. “I do have my own generator, but people are not coming in because there are no lights outside the centre and they assume every shop is closed.”

Chariss de Witt, owner of Crafty Arts, said they now had to monitor each and every customer coming in the shop because they had experienced a lot of theft during the past two days. “Sales have dropped by two- thirds. We don‘t want our customers to be treated like criminals, but we have to monitor their every move in the shop,” she said.

Schoeman said to prevent substations and electrical equipment being damaged or destroyed in the future, consumers should try to turn off all their electrical equipment during load- shedding, and when the power came back on to turn them on gradually. This would lower the demand on the substation and prevent power surging into it and electrical appliances in consumers‘ homes.

A right to know

Commenting on the explosion, DA ward councillor Dacre Haddon said it was “inexcusable” and the question that needed to be answered was why load-shedding was being implemented “when our substations do not have the capability to deal with the surges”.

He said in addition people had a right to know why the metro was load-shedding for more hours per week than the bigger metros.

Haddon said the loss of perishable foods and other losses to residents was unfair and those who had suffered such losses should be compensated by the metro.

Source: The Herald

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