Fires at two Johannesburg substations, City Power suspects tampering

City Power, the municipal electricity utility for Johannesburg, reported fires at two of its substations within about a two week period. The Fordsburg substation caught fire, cutting electricity to surrounding communities; the utility said about 90 percent of affected residents had supply restored almost immediately, while the remaining 10 percent were restored after nine days. On the Tuesday before publication a fire broke out at the Central substation, one of 19 substations serving the inner city, affecting residents and businesses. The utility's acting chief executive said that while some cable joints are ageing and prone to damage, such faults would normally cause a repairable 'pop' rather than a fire, and that foul play could be behind some of the fires. Investigations were continuing and no completion time could be given, with the area needing to be cleaned before damage could be assessed and repairs begun.

Reported by the utility as possible deliberate tampering, with ageing cable joints also noted as susceptible to damage. The cause of each fire was not established at the time of reporting.

1. Where faults escalate to fire rather than a contained repairable failure, operators should examine whether ageing joints and connections are behind the abnormal behaviour.
2. Physical security and access control at substations warrant review where tampering or vandalism is suspected.
3. Clear public communication on restoration timelines, including for the minority of customers restored last, helps manage community impact during extended outages.

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