Rust and corrosion again blamed for power outage

Rust and corrosion on a transmission tower are again behind the widespread power outage in Nelson Mandela Bay, which left residents and businesses in Summerstrand, Walmer and surrounding areas scrambling.

A side-arm on one of the lattice poles on a pylon snapped due to corrosion.

This is according to Ward 1 councillor Dries van der Westhuyzen who visited the site to inspect the work.

This led to the power going out early on Sunday.

The pylon is part of a transmission network from the Chelsea substation, supplying power to the Arlington and Summerstrand substations through shared double-circuit steel lattice structures.

The power was being restored by Monday afternoon, leaving some residents uncertain for hours about whether they would face another night in darkness.

However, poor communication from the municipality and confusion over a rotational grid schedule intended to inform residents of their power supply times worsened the situation.

Van der Westhuyzen was also frustrated about the lack of information.

In August, four 132kV high voltage transmission towers on the western side of Gqeberha collapsed due to gale-force winds.

This was also caused by rust and corrosion.

They were scheduled for reconstruction within the 2024/2025 financial year.

It is not clear if this work has started.

On Sunday, the municipality sent a notice that a circuit breaker had tripped at the same 132kV circuit line.

“After investigations, it was found that the pole had a broken cross-arm touching a red phase conductor,” it said.

Later, the rotational grid schedule was sent out.

On Monday, municipal spokesperson Mthubanzi Mniki notified the media that mayor Babalwa Lobishe would hold a media briefing at 11am to update residents about restoration.

At 11am, the meeting was postponed to 1pm as she had a mayoral committee meeting.

At 1pm, the media was told to wait in a briefing room at City Hall.

Almost three hours later, the media briefing was cancelled.

Mniki said Lobishe met officials about a future meeting with the National Treasury on grant expenditure.

In February, the National Treasury warned the city it would withhold R262.5m in grant funding as the city had failed to meet the required minimum spending of conditional grants by the December 31 deadline.

Lobishe did not respond to questions by the time of publication.

In a WhatsApp message, electricity and energy executive director Thobi Biyela said the power had been restored and a statement would be issued.

Earlier on Monday, Ward 2 councillor Sean Tappan said it was unacceptable that, despite R8m being redirected from the ward’s IDP budget in 2024 for maintenance of the Arlington substation after a previous outage, residents were once again forced to rely on candlelight.

“We had weekends where power was off because we were told there was maintenance.

“Now one has to wonder how the top of a tower can rust and break if repairs of that amount were effected,” he said.

He slammed the municipality for its lack of communication and the rotational grid schedule that residents could not decipher.

“I’m extremely [upset] because since the power went off at about 9.30am [on Sunday] after repeated attempts with the department to try make contact with [Biyela], or through the councillor [WhatsApp] group where we are supposed to get electricity updates, I eventually had to escalate to the acting city manager, Ted Pillay, and even then only got a response of what they had been posting on Facebook,” he said.

“I have over 13,500 people sending messages and calling, shouting how useless the municipality is and I only got a copy of the schedules after they had been posted.

“The schedules are based on the grouping of distribution boxes in general areas and do not list all the streets, so as a resident or councillor, what group you are on, you might not even be able to tell,” he said.

Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber chief executive Denise van Huyssteen said they had repeatedly raised concerns over the past three years that the high-voltage fibre contract for the area must be urgently implemented to ensure that secure and reliable power could be in place.

“This incident follows and is linked to previous incidents, such as when the 132kv overhead line fell over in November last year, causing a prolonged power disruption to the affected areas. 

“Furthermore, this incident reinforces the need for an ongoing maintenance plan to be implemented and executed to ensure that a reliable and stable electricity supply can be provided to consumers and businesses in the Bay,” she said. 

PE Metro Bed and Breakfast Association chair Shena Wilmot said the schedule brought no certainty for businesses.

“It is frustrating beyond measure because you are unsure which grid you fall into.

“I have not been able to work out where I am, and in the meantime, it is very hard to run a business when you don’t have electricity and do not know when it will be available,” she said.

Summerstrand resident Kyle Vermooten said it was ridiculous that residents were expected to shoulder another rate hike, yet the money never went to fixing anything.

“The communication has been shocking.”

The Herald