Substation explosion leads to power outages in Pretoria

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The City of Tshwane informed residents in a post on their X account on 18 February 2025, that there has been a substation explosion.

The post, shared alongside a video showing the incident, detailed that a voltage transformer exploded at the Njala Substation. The explosion has led to widespread power outages in some parts of the City.

SUBSTATION EXPLOSION IN PRETORIA

According to the City, the explosion has mostly affected areas in the east of Pretoria.

“We are aware of the 132kV outage affecting multiple substations and areas in the City. Team of technicians dispatched to conduct investigations. We will keep you updated.

“Energy & Electricity [Department] technicians and Emergency Services have been dispatched to extinguish the fire, assess the extent of the damage and determine the next course of action. We’ll provide feedback.

“It is a Voltage Transformer that has exploded at the Njala Infeed Substation,” said the City in a series of posts.

AREAS LEFT IN THE DARK FOLLOWING SUBSTATION EXPLOSION

A lot of areas in Pretoria East experienced power outages following the substation explosion. Executive Mayor of Tshwane, Dr Nasiphi Moya, said on her X account:

“Our emergency services teams have extinguished the fire at Njala Substation that has left large parts of Pretoria East without power. We will provide further information on ERT once assessments are completed. We apologise for the inconvenience caused to residents.”

These are the areas that the City stated were affected at the time:

Die Hoewes
Clubview
Valhalla
Monrick
Glen Lauriston
Eldo Lakes
Valhalla
Lyttelton
Kloofsig

WHEN WILL POWER BE RESTORED?

According to Moya, power in these areas should be restored by Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.

“Our teams do not envision the power outage lasting several days as some residents fear. Some customers will likely see power restored during the night/morning. Full restoration is our foremost priority,” Moya expressed.