Residents in Sunford, Eastbury, Northcroft, Lenham, and Westham have been plagued by power outages for the past two weeks, sparking frustration and anger within the community.
Ward 49 Councillor Tino Pillay acknowledged the community’s frustration, stating that councillors received minimal information, which was insufficient to address the concerns of affected residents. “Heights of frustration were reached by the Phoenix community regarding the constant power outages… Councillors were receiving minimal information which was insufficient to appease the anger of many residents.”
Pillay explained that the power outages were caused by separate low voltage cable faults (LV cable faults), which affected only a few houses. He noted that these faults needed to be logged with the Municipality and referred to a faultsman. In contrast, Medium Voltage faults affected many roads and units, while High Voltage faults impacted multiple areas simultaneously.
The councillor attributed the backlog of LV cable faults to the recent heavy rains, which left some residents without power for five consecutive days. He stated that the department struggled to keep up with the demand for power restoration.
Pillay warned that the electricity infrastructure in Phoenix was slowly collapsing, citing the strain caused by load-shedding as a contributing factor. However, he noted that the recent surge in Medium Voltage failures (MV failures) on the cable network, which affects many roads and units, had exposed the true extent of the problem.
“The crux of the matter is that our cable network has now reached its lifespan… Our infrastructure is really old, and once we have started patching up these cables, they are continually failing,” Pillay said. He identified excessive rains, substandard workmanship, and overloading of circuits as contributing factors to the power outages.
Pillay revealed that he had been engaging with the Acting Head of Electricity and relevant stakeholders to address the severity of the network infrastructure in Phoenix. He welcomed the installation of a new line of cabling from the Phoenix 2 Reservoir to the Eastbury Major Sub Station, which he hoped would provide a long-term solution to the problem.
The councillor cautioned residents that Medium Voltage cable faults were a lengthy process, taking up to 40 hours to complete. He emphasised that residents should be aware that the estimated 2-24 hour response time for reported outages did not guarantee a resolution within that timeframe.
