Restoration progresses for Nelson Mandela Bay power outage

Contractors are moving ahead with restoring power to affected areas in Nelson Mandela Bay. Excavations have begun and replacement poles are being delivered to the site.

A rusted transmission tower collapsed on Tuesday night along the Chelsea–Arlington electricity line.

Electricity and energy political head Ziyanda Mnqokoyi was on site on Thursday to monitor progress.

Mnqokoyi said the restoration timeframe had shifted to seven days since the outage.

The next phase of work involves erecting the new poles, according to a municipal statement. Technicians will then string the power lines, with officials saying the repairs are progressing according to plan.

In the meantime, the municipality has introduced a rotational power supply system to provide limited relief to residents in Summerstrand while repairs are under way.

The suburb has been divided into four groups, with each receiving electricity for about three hours before being switched off for nine hours to allow power to be redirected to other groups.

However, officials said it is not currently possible to back-feed electricity to parts of Walmer due to the configuration of the network in the affected area.

The municipality has apologised to residents and businesses for the inconvenience and thanked the community for its patience while teams work to restore the network safely and as quickly as possible.

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