Pretoria – A Joburg man was injured after he allegedly opened an electricity substation and tried to reconnect electricity illegally.
“City Power would like to warn residents against opening our substations and operating on the network as this is dangerous and illegal,” said spokesperson Isaac Mangena.
“A resident from Crosby near Mayfair in Johannesburg is currently in hospital after a mini substation blew up in his face after he illegally opened the mini substation and tried to operate it to restore electricity.”
The area has been without electricity since Wednesday after the mini substation tripped because of a suspected overload.
Mangena said a call was logged with City Power, but its team had to complete work at another site before they could attend to the tripped mini substation.
“In a trail of WhatsApp group messages from impatient residents, the victim was warned by the councillor and other residents against trying to operate on the City Power network. It would seem the victim went ahead and tried to operate when the substation blew up,” said Mangena.
“City Power operates in a highly regulated environment which prohibits unauthorised individuals from working on the electricity network. No resident is allowed to operate on the City Power network as this is not only illegal but dangerous, as is the case with the incident in Crosby.”
Mangena said City has “a serious problem” of vandalism of its infrastructure including incidents where residents illegally operate the electricity network, often with the help of unqualified electricians, and reconnect themselves or make illegal connections to informal settlements.
“This mini substation which blew up is brand new, we installed it a few weeks ago, and our MMC Michael Sun visited the team working to connect it,” said Mangena.
“We have, as City Power, decided to report a case of vandalism and malicious damage to property against the victim.”
Mangena said City Power would switch on electricity to the affected community this afternoon.
“We apologise for the inconvenience caused by this and wish the victim a speedy recovery,” he said.
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