Story audio is generated using AI
Residents from Georginia in Roodepoort North say they will have to spend thousands of rands to repair appliances damaged after a 300-volt electrical surge swept through their homes, which they blame on City Power’s temporary generator installed three weeks ago.
The temporary solution was introduced as the utility worked to pinpoint underground cable faults affecting parts of Georginia.
But residents say what was meant to keep the lights on ended up destroying household appliances and leaving them with repair bills they cannot afford.
City Power’s Isaac Mangena confirmed to Sowetan that the generator was deployed as a temporary supply solution to minimise the impact of the prolonged outage on affected customers while fault-finding investigations continued.
He said they have received complaints about the generator, but can’t confirm whether it was responsible for the reported damage.
Residents, however, are adamant that the generator is to blame.
According to Justin Kaysen, who lives on 7th Avenue, problems began on Tuesday evening when the lights started flickering, and the power was repeatedly cut.
“Tuesday night, we started experiencing a few power issues with voltage differences. Lights started flickering here from about 6, 7 o’clock on and off the whole time. Power kept on cutting off, kept on coming back on,” he said.
According to Kaysen, the situation escalated in the early hours of Thursday morning.
“At about 3, 4am Thursday, all the appliances started exploding in our house. As we checked the voltage of the power meter that provides the power, it was showing 322 volts in a 222-volt system.”
“So we started losing TVs, computers, power supplies, cameras, alarm systems, all those things. This is the hard drive out of our DStv decoder that blew up as well. Our battery supply for the cameras, the alarm power supply, and even our battery charger exploded,” he said.
Kaysen said the family is now facing significant financial losses.
“We’re looking at thousands and thousands of rands here. We are looking at R3,000 to replace that fuse box, and about another R3,000 for the computer that exploded. The TV stopped working as well. We’re sitting with a big loss at the moment.”
Another resident, Taiba Dladla, described a similar experience, saying she noticed something was wrong when her lights began flickering, and household appliances started behaving unusually.
“There was just an unusual amount of electricity coming through the house. At first glance, I didn’t know what it was, but the lights started flickering. That’s when I knew something was wrong.
“When I plugged in the heater, the heater just became hot, very hot immediately, which a bar heater does not do. Then all of a sudden, all the lights went out in the house, and my Wi-Fi went out.”
Dladla said several items were affected, including her television and electrical plugs.
“The TV doesn’t work that well. When you switch it on, lines appear due to the extra current that comes through. My other plug blew out, and that was a surge plug made for surges, but it blew out,” she said.
Another resident said that replacing everything could cost R20,000.
“From the TV to the Wi-Fi, I still need to replace the bulb. This is a lot of money that one doesn’t really budget for. We told them about the high volatility multiple times, but no one took us seriously. Now look, they won’t even replace what we lost,” he said.
Mangena said initial investigations confirmed that a double underground cable fault was responsible for the outage affecting the area.
“While fault testing has confirmed the existence of two faults on the underground network, technical teams have not yet been able to positively locate the exact fault points,” he said.
“At this stage, City Power cannot conclusively confirm that the generator malfunctioned or that voltage fluctuations originating from the generator caused damage to customer appliances. Any allegations of appliance damage would require a detailed technical investigation.”
Mangena said residents who believe they suffered losses can submit formal claims to the utility for assessment.
City Power is yet to find the exact fault in the cables and said residents could still be relying on the generator for weeks or months.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.