Explosion at 66kV substation cuts power across Kempton Park

July 2025Published 7 Sept 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor

SignificantElectricalProvisional

Estimated damageEstimated by the register's adjusterHow? Know the real figure?

supply cut for about •• daysShown in the record →Full estimate

From the recordRoot cause Failed part

Where: Main Supply 66kV substation, Kempton Park
Operator: City of Ekurhuleni
What: Explosion at Meter Panel 1 tripped municipal breaker
Cause: Not reported

We will also email you about the register's paid records and plans, at most once a week and three times in all. You can stop these at any time. By signing up you agree to the privacy policy.

Companies named in the reporting of this entry (being named is not a finding of fault): City of Ekurhuleni

What happened

An explosion occurred at the Main Supply 66kV substation operated by the City of Ekurhuleni, on the Meter Panel 1 side, causing a municipal breaker to trip overnight. The explosion severely impacted the entire 66kV ring network supplying Kempton Park, leaving large parts of the city, including the CBD, airport area and numerous residential suburbs, without electricity. Technical teams attended the site to assess damage and isolate the affected panel.

The municipality was advised to switch supply over to a second panel, Meter Panel 2, but experienced technical challenges and awaited an engineer before restoration could proceed. At the time of reporting there was no estimated restoration time. Traffic lights at many intersections were also affected, requiring extra caution from motorists. The City of Ekurhuleni had not issued a formal statement at the time of publication.

Contributing factors

The source reports that an explosion at Meter Panel 1 caused a municipal breaker to trip, and that switching to a backup panel was delayed by technical challenges on the municipality's side pending an engineer's attendance.

Lessons learned

An explosion at Meter Panel 1 tripped the municipal breaker and cut the 66kV ring, so operators should verify that backup panels can accept load without delay.
Technical teams attended the site to assess damage and isolate the affected panel, therefore substations need rapid on-call engineers for switchover during faults.
The 66kV ring failure left traffic lights out across Kempton Park, so operators must plan public alerts for non-functioning signals when supply is lost.

More lessons on electrical protection and isolation, outages, backup supply and restoration, from every incident on the register.

Not yet known

Cause of the explosion
Age and model of Meter Panel 1
Estimated time to restore supply
Cost of damage and lost supply

This entry is updated when these are reported. Get an alert for the next one like it.

Source

citizen.co.za

Other entries that name Kempton

Transformer fire at Spartan substation cuts power near Kempton Park airport EIR-1118 · 2020
Explosion at Glen Marais substation leaves areas of Kempton Park without power EIR-1002 · 2019

Published 2026-09-07. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.

See the register's stories first in Google: add it as a preferred source.

Chart to reuse with this story: Grid infrastructure incidents in South Africa, by year, free with a credit (PNG).

The record behind this entry

The record behind EIR-0467 holds the site, the operator, the owner, the root cause, what failed and the fire service response as fields you can filter, count and export, with its source and their verification status. The cause is not hidden: the contributing factors above give it as the sources report it. The record adds it as a field. Companies are named in the roles the sources give them. Being named is not a finding of fault.

Site: ••••••••••••
Operator: •••••••••
Owner: •••••••••
Failed part: •••••••
Fire service response: ••••••••••
Sources: ••••••••

Opens with either of these:

Once per person; every record, every page, for reading, and 1 free question to Ask the register; no subscription

Analyst, £39 a month

Ask the register any question in plain words and get a sourced answer in seconds (20 a month), plus the full record behind every entry. Cancel at any time. Limited-time price, rising to £79. Join now and keep £39.

See a complete record first, if you like.

Open the record in Lookup

Or get this one record free by email

Grid infrastructure incidents in South Africa: 150 entries, with a free alert for the next one.

Substation and transformer fires: the counts, the latest entries and a free alert for the next one. Also: switchgear and breaker fires.

Browse the full register or submit an incident.