Johannesburg power outage: Prolonged blackouts after central substation explosion

Johannesburg residents in the inner city are likely to endure an extended power outage following an explosion at the Central Substation on Wednesday. City Power disclosed that the blast occurred while technicians were attempting to restore electricity supply to a recently installed feeder board. The company has yet to determine the cause of the explosion.

Isaac Mangena, a City Power spokesperson, explained that the device, which had initially malfunctioned on Tuesday, failed once more on Wednesday night during an attempt to restore power. At the moment of the explosion, City Power was uncertain about the extent of the damage. Due to the delay, residents and businesses are not anticipated to regain power by midday Thursday, as had been initially anticipated.

Instead, a new estimated time for restoration will be announced once the site is deemed safe. The affected areas encompass Marshalltown, sections of the Inner City, Selby Street, and segments of Albert, Ellof, Commissioner, and Anderson streets. City Power urged customers to maintain a safe distance from the substation, underground cable tunnels, manholes, and other electrical infrastructure, emphasizing that teams were actively working to restore electricity, and the explosion had complicated these restoration efforts.