Eskom battles to keep up demand of failed mini-substations, transformers in Gauteng

Residents recently built their own protection around a mini-substation in Mabopane. Picture: Oupa Mokoena/African News Agency (ANA)

Residents recently built their own protection around a mini-substation in Mabopane. Picture: Oupa Mokoena/African News Agency (ANA)

Published Jul 7, 2022

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Pretoria - The Eskom power utility has announced that it is battling to keep up with the demand of failed mini-substations and transformers in Gauteng due to the record number of electrical equipment failures and shortage of replacement stock.

As a matter of fact, the power utility said that the failures had put such a strain on it, that it had ultimately affected its ability to replace and restore supply to the affected areas across the province.

Eskom's Ronel Kotze said they were experiencing challenges due to the limited stock levels of mini-substations and transformers because of a recorded exponential number of failed electricity equipment due to network overloading.

Kotze said in such instances they found that the network overloading was caused by illegal connections, meter bypassing and tampering with unauthorised operations on the network.

This also occurred as a result of infrastructure vandalism and theft, as well as the non-payment and non-purchasing of legal electricity tokens, which the power utility reported had constantly been on the rise of late.

And although Eskom announced that it had successfully replaced and repaired 116 out of 181 damaged mini-substations and fixed 1326 transformers out of 2314 to the tune of R152 million, it indicated that it remained with a huge demand for equipment needing attention.

In addition to stock shortages, the management of Eskom said the frequent and increased number of incidents of road closures and protests which delayed entry into areas where work needed to be conducted simply exacerbated the delay in the turnaround time.

“Access to our offices is often blockaded, employees are sometimes assaulted, intimidated and in extreme situations, held hostage by some of the community members. This harassment and intimidation is also being experienced by our employees while driving and operating in the field across the province," said Mashangu Xivambu, the senior manager for Maintenance and Operations in Gauteng.

Xibambu gave the stern warning that Eskom would not hesitate to withdraw its services in areas where their employees' safety was compromised, as their employees' safety remained their number one priority, adding that they had also reported the cases to the law enforcement agencies for further investigation.

"Although we are faced with the challenge of equipment shortages, the manufacturers have committed to continue to prioritise Eskom as they understand the impact this has on Gauteng as the economic hub, the essential services, and the communities in the province."

Pretoria News