Electricity Supply to Hilton - HRA Feedback

At last, we have some reasonably positive news to report on Hilton’s electricity supply woes. As ratepayers know, the HRA has been involved with the initiative by the Pietermaritzburg and Midlands Chamber of Business (PMCB), being represented by Rob Maitland-Stuart in an endeavour to work with the Msunduzi Electricity Unit with a view to addressing the extensive problems facing Hilton’s electricity supply networks amongst those of the city itself. In summary and scheduled for completion by the end of business tomorrow, 14th May 2021, are the installation, connection, and commissioning of the two sections of recently upgraded 33kV cables on both lines A and B from Retief to Crossways S/S, i.e., the 33kV incomers into Crossways S/S and those along Villiers Drive near Wykeham Collegiate school in Pmb.

 

Although these cables have been significantly upgraded (3 x 630mm 2 x 1core aluminium) they will not benefit the supply to Hilton i.t.o. reliability, redundancy, rotational load reduction, etc., until the third and longest section out of Retief S/S to Quarry Rd in Pmb has also been upgraded, which is only scheduled for completion in the 2021/22 financial year subject to municipal budget approval. All this means is that a measure of inconvenience may still be experienced by Hilton residents i.t.o. load reduction practices should either one of the 33kV feeders (A or B) from Retief to Crossways S/S fail for whatever reason, as the healthy feeder will not be able to carry the full Hilton load. This is exacerbated by the onset of winter when the demand on the network increases. Furthermore, Crossways S/S itself is to undergo much needed plant maintenance and this has been scheduled for tomorrow, 14th May from 07:00 to 17:00, which will result in a complete shutdown of the Crossways S/S to perform this long overdue task.

 

The Msunduzi Municipality have also partnered with Eskom via a Service Level Agreement, for them to undertake specific repairs and maintenance of the municipal electrical infrastructure and to assist them with building strategic capacity, all of which are viewed as positive steps in the right direction.

 

Encroaching vegetation
W.r.t. the 11kV/LV networks in and around Hilton, there is an important role for us as residents to play in assisting the Msunduzi Municipality in ensuring a reasonable and reliable supply of electricity is provided. This involves identifying vegetation on or adjacent to our individual properties which is encroaching on the municipal infrastructure (overhead lines & reticulation substations). It is Msunduzi Municipality’s responsibility to keep their infrastructure free of encroaching vegetation, but we ask that you inspect your properties and report any encroaching vegetation to Rob Maitland-Stuart on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. who in turn, will liaise with the Msunduzi Electricity Unit to have their teams address the affected areas. This will go a long way to improving the reliability and continuity of supply that to date has been adversely affected by encroaching vegetation issues, particularly in the Winterskloof area, so the HRA are calling on all residents to take this matter seriously and assist with this request.

 

 

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