Explosion reported at Bryanston North substation cuts power to residents
Nov 2022Published 8 Oct 2026Responsible editor: George, Chief Editor
Companies named in this entry: City Power, Eskom
What happened
On 8 November 2022, The Citizen reported an explosion at the Bryanston North substation (also referred to as Brynorth Substation) affecting Bryanston and parts of Riverclub in South Africa. City Power said the substation tripped earlier that day because of blown terminations on transformer connections and blown transformers on Ring Main Units 3 and 4, causing an outage. Residents had been without electricity since 09:00. Operators were on site waiting for Eskom to replace batteries and restore power, and no estimated restoration time had been given. The article does not report injuries, fire service attendance, the extent of damage, or when power was restored.
Contributing factors
Not reported beyond City Power's account. The utility said blown terminations on transformer connections and blown transformers on Ring Main Units 3 and 4 caused the trip. Why those components failed was not reported.
Lessons learned
- Treat failed transformer terminations and ring-main equipment as outage risks that need prompt inspection after a trip.
- Agree spare parts and replacement responsibilities with neighbouring utilities in advance, so waiting for battery or equipment replacement does not prolong an outage.
- Tell customers an estimated restoration time as soon as it is known, and say clearly when it is not yet known.
More lessons on outages, backup supply and restoration, from every incident on the register.
Source
Published 2026-10-08. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.