Power surge: meltdown at pizza outlet
Pizza Del Forno hit hard by Ham Street power surges.
The 22 April electrical power surges in Ham Street, Witpoortjie had employees of Pizza Del Forno running for their lives.
Like all the other residents and businesses in this street, the popular pizza outlet also fell prey to electrical problems throughout the day due to a dysfunctional substation that serves the street.
Matters came to a climax at approximately 5.30pm when light bulbs started exploding, glass flying everywhere and fluorescent lights caught fire in the kitchen. Kitchen staff, not realising what happened, bolted for the street to find safety.
Owner Johan Struwig and other employees had to act quickly to extinguish the fires.
“This is the third time this year that I have suffered damages due to that substation. I went to look when the contractors came to fix the problem and every time it is the earth wire that burns out. Furthermore the substation is so outdated it still operates with bell fuses,” says Struwig who’s emotions changes from anger to disbelief.
Other damages that Struwig suffered at his business is the day/night switch and globe of the spotlight outside, almost all the bulbs inside of his premises, the fan motors of his compressor, two microwaves, a coffee machine, his sound system as well as his television and the UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) on his computers.
Struwig says that the damages amount to approximately R20 000.
Like most of the other complainants the record spoke to, Struwig wanted to know, “Why does City Power not replace the substation since it is obvious that they can not fix it?”
