6-hour blackout on Atlantic Seaboard

While businesses and residents are doing what they can to cope with load shedding, they were not prepared for a six-hour blackout which affected areas from Camps Bay to Milnerton.

Beverley van Reenen, the City’s mayoral committee member for energy said the City was investigating the loss of power

“There was a fault on an Eskom line and it tripped Eskom to City lines. The investigation remains under way though to determine the cause of the fault,” she said.

The electrical outage started just after 3pm and power was restored after 9pm.

Ward 54 councillor Nicola Jowell said most residents were understanding of the matter.

“I am very grateful to the residents, who, I thought, were very understanding throughout the outage although they must have been very frustrated to once again have no electricity, and during a period where we have been hit with load shedding.

“Through our City officials on the ground we were able to give regular updates to the community on what was happening and anticipated time frames when they became clear. These extended outages are hard enough to deal with but I think having regular communication and updates assists the residents in the time of uncertainly and mounting frustration,” said Ms Jowell.

Ms Jowell said the fault had been on the Eskom supply lines that service the city through the switching station in Montague Gardens and that the City’s electrical department had been on site to assist Eskom.

The owner of The Duchess of Wisbeach restaurant in Sea Point, Theresa Beukes, said her business was equipped to deal with load shedding and while they had operated throughout the blackout, they had lost revenue.

“With loadshedding there is a schedule, so we prepare and we know what to do. But this was not expected and I know it’s not the City’s fault and that this happens, and can happen, anywhere in the world,” said Ms Beukes.

“We could still operate for two hours after the power stopped as we have a transformer, but we had to limit our menu and it was very hot inside as the aircon wasn’t working.”

Thea Korff, a book publisher who lives in Sea Point, said that such incidents forced her to work overtime.

“I had no wi-fi, no power, nothing, so I could not work and had to work overtime. We also had to wait until the power came on to cook the food we bought, so we ate quite late,” said Ms Korff.

Frances Morris, 80, from Sea Point, said the blackout had been an inconvenience but that she and her partner Harry Singer, 89, had been prepared. Mr Singer, however, had been upset that he missed the better part of the England and Ireland rugby match.

“Fortunately we had dinner prepared and I always have candles at home. So we were ready. But I must say that for a friend of mine who lives alone and had an operation recently, it was frustrating. I had to assist him that evening to heat his food,” said Ms Morris.