Update

GRAAFF-REINET NEWS - As if the recent water and sewage concerns were not enough, in the last few days residents of some areas of Graaff-Reinet have also had to contend with no electricity for almost 30 hours, with no idea when power will be restored.

When the power first went off late on Sunday morning, many thought that loadshedding had started again, but it soon became apparent that it was a serious local problem.

When concerned members of the community contacted the municipal emergency numbers, they were told initially that the municipality was aware of the problem, and technicians were trying to locate the fault.

According to residents, several areas were affected but the problems were mainly in the horseshoe area. Power was back in certain areas at about 20:00, but to the western side of Church Street, everything stayed dark. This was from Caledon Street right through to West Street.

It was reported by Cllr Samantha Graham, who had contacted a municipal official on Sunday afternoon, that at that stage, there were two underground electrical cables and an overhead conductor which were faulty. “The municipality is working hard to resolve these issues but at this stage, cannot say how long it will be before power will be fully restored” posted Cllr Graham.

The Municipality worked through the night on Sunday and managed to repair one of the cables completely. This meant that some households had had their electricity restored. There were, however, unfortunately still two cables that were faulty. A specialist company was called from Port Elizabeth to attend to the matter, and it was hoped that their intervention would speed up the whole process and that repairs to the other two cables should be quicker today.

At about 04:13 on Monday morning, those areas to the West of Church Street did indeed have power, but for less than an hour. At 05:00 there was no power again and at this stage, at 15:30, still no power.

Meanwhile, there is great concern amongst residents about the contents of freezers, and from the police about security with whole areas of town in darkness overnight.

There is hope that, according to one of the technicians from PE, if no further faults are located, the power could be back on within the next two hours.

Read a previous article here: Unexpected power outage causes inconvenience.

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