Keith Blake, Ottery
While away on a fishing trip, I got a call from my neighbours in Ottery Gardens about a sudden power outage in the area. The timing for the outage was very irregular, and we had not been notified about it
Unscheduled power cuts are a worry because electrical surges can compromise security systems and damage expensive electrical equipment. And many of us, including myself, cannot simply claim from insurance because we can’t afford it.
Apparently someone did report the power outage to the City by SMSing 31220. On Friday August 13, I saw an electricity department vehicle in my road and assumed a team had been sent to fix the problem. But that wasn’t the case because the outages are stilling happening, with two on Sunday August 15 in short on-off bursts.
Neighbours say they are waking up to find that their cellphones aren’t fully charged, so I suspect more electricity cuts are happening late at night.
I have been asked, as a community activist, to take this matter up because we have no councillor due to the death of our beloved Monty Oliver.
• Phindile Maxiti, mayoral committee member for energy and climate change responds: The City of Cape Town sincerely apologises for the disruption of the electricity supply in Ottery and the surrounding areas recently. Our electricity officials attended to an area fault which resulted in a 600A major circuit breaker tripping in the area on August 11.
The City’s electricity department also carried out planned maintenance and improvements to the electricity system in the area from August 12 to August 15, which caused electricity disruptions.
Planned outage notices were issued to residents in advance, advising affected customers about the outage intended for the improvements to the system. Electricity supply was restored in the area after the work was completed.
The City’s teams will continue to do everything in their power to attend to outages and area faults in the shortest possible time. It is often not possible to give an exact time for restoration where damage to infrastructure is involved and where an outage affects a large area. We thank customers for their patience.