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This afternoon, the Mayoral Executive tabled before Soshanguve councillors an electricity grid stability plan that will be implemented in the next two weeks to stabilise power supply in Soshanguve. For years residents in Soshanguve have struggled with sporadic outages because of aging substation infrastructure. Our most problematic substation, IA Substation, is over 50 years – far beyond the lifespan of an ordinary substation. 

The first part of stabilising power supply is the completion of upgrades to IA Substation, which are currently at 85% completion. The refurbishments to IA Substation include replacing non-functioning switchgears and cables. Over the years, the substation battled to carry the growing electricity demand, which necessitated the need for scheduled load reduction to be implemented in the area to preserve the system’s stability. 

The newly-installed switchgears will allow the electrical system at IA to isolate individual outages to specific areas. Only a few minor repairs are needed to finalise the refurbishments, and these include re-routing the cables which are expected to cause brief electricity supply interruption to communities over a two-day period. 

The following areas will benefit from the IA Substation upgrades: Blocks BB, DD, JJ, FF, GG and NN, Tswaing and parts of Winterveld. Other aspects of the short project include supply to W substation.  

We apologise to communities who have for years struggled with unreliable electricity supply and we ask that you give us time and patience while work gets underway in the next two weeks.

Issued by Executive Mayor of Tshwane Nasiphi Moya