The power outages over the last five weeks have caused extreme hardship and losses for individuals and businesses in Hilton. The electricity service provider is Umsunduzi Municipality for the bulk of the Hilton area and the general problem lies with the aging infrastructure (cables, transformers and switchgear) combined with a lack of maintenance by the municipality. Promises were made more than a year ago by the (then) Umsunduzi officials and politicians of imminent upgrades. Since then there has been little evidence of any of these promises being kept. The newly appointed municipal managers have made public statements regarding the upgrade of the existing supply and we have been given to understand that a contractor has been appointed to identify and rectify the faults in the system. The progress of the physical work is, however, not being published.At this time the HRA (Hilton Ratepayers Association) sees the reinstatement of a reliable supply to Hilton as the priority. As we know, Eskom has problems of its own and negotiations with Eskom to take over the supply will take many months if not years and the upshot might be that they do not wish to take income from one of their current customers (Umsunduzi). We see this as a long-term alternative and one which will not solve the immediate problems being faced by Hilton. The alternative is to get our municipality (Umngeni) and Umsunduzi to meet and agree to a plan of upgrades, a budget and a time frame for the necessary upgrades.
The HRA had constituted an Electrical subcommittee, led by a professional engineer and resident (Howard Richardson) and assisted by two electrical engineers. The purpose is to assist and support the implementation of the upgrades and, as importantly, to report back so that the ratepayers can be informed of progress. They have already carried out a survey of the affected supply lines and have identified areas that need to be cleared of vegetation to avoid outages caused by falling trees.
A meeting between the respective municipal managers has already taken place and a further meeting is set for 26 January which will include Councillor Passmoor. At this meeting the level of involvement of the HRA electrical subcommittee will be discussed and agreed on.
Extracted from email received from HRA Chairman Tony Van Schijndel who will be sending out fortnightly updates. Pictured on the left is a overhead powerline's earth cable or stayline, reported but as yet unattended.