Clear trees, shrubs from power lines to reduce risk of outages during stormy weather
09 June 2020
Trees and branches which encroach on power lines can lead to electricity outages during the stormy winter season. The City of Cape Town has been clearing tree branches away from overhead power lines and encourages property owners to do the same to reduce the risk of outages during stormy weather, as is expected from tomorrow.
The City’s Electricity Generation and Distribution Department has been making every effort to minimise electricity outages caused by trees growing alongside overhead power lines. This is especially dangerous, particularly during inclement weather conditions when branches can be knocked onto power lines. The South African Weather Service has advised wet and windy weather can be expected from tomorrow. Stormy weather usually contributes to an increase in power outages especially where tree branches grow over and into overhead power lines.
As part of ongoing maintenance work and in preparation for these winter storms, an average of R6,2 million per year has been spent on various tree clearing efforts across the city over the past four years. This includes:
the trimming of trees in various areas where it is common for trees to encroach on overhead power lines
closing open pole top boxes to prevent water ingress which can also lead to outages in winter
general maintenance of power lines and the conversion of overhead power lines to underground power lines where necessary.
‘Much of this infrastructure maintenance work was completed in the early summer months to ensure that the infrastructure is in a good condition to meet the winter peak usage demand but we need property owners to also do their bit to reduce the risk of prolonged outages especially caused by overgrown branches encroaching onto power lines.
‘The City encourages property owners to maintain their trees and vegetation in such a way that it does not encroach on overhead lines to avoid possible inconvenience during stormy weather. Property owners or those renting a property are urged to do this maintenance work while taking safety precautions and to ensure the required clearance of at least 3,8 metres between vegetation or trees and power lines. Branches that encroach on streetlights diminish their efficacy. Clearing of overhead lines can be dangerous and property owners can approach the City for advice if they have already let trees grow too close to power lines. Working together, we can avoid the inconvenience caused to our residents when power lines are struck by trees during a storm,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Energy and Climate Change, Councillor Phindile Maxiti.
Should residents be concerned that there is a risk of trees on City property encroaching on City overhead power lines, they are encouraged to report these cases to the City’s Fault Reporting Centre on 0860 103 089 or FaultReporting.Centre@capetown.gov.za
Please note, during inclement weather, service requests increase and this can also impact on the time required to fix an outage. The City thanks all residents for their understanding.
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Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
