We are happy to share the following feedback from Howard Richardson on behalf of the Hilton Ratepayers Association. While there is still some way to go before the goals we all desire in terms of electricity supply are achieved this response has some extremely positive content, we applaud the HRA (Hilton Ratepayers Association) for their efforts in maintaining communications with the municipality on behalf of all Hilton residents. The following is their most recent update;
A meeting was held between the Msunduzi Electricity Department and representatives of the HRA on 10/10/12.
At the meeting the Electricity Dept. gave a report on progress of the 33Kv line upgrade to Hilton, which in brief is:
• The contractor is on site and well established
• 70% of the new steel poles have been delivered
• 40% of excavation for planting of poles is complete
• Weather permitting, the planting of poles is to commence by 12th October,
• Some short unannounced outages may occur during the planting of new poles due to the proximity of the old lines and the line may be switched off leaving only one line live, but this is not expected to exceed 2 to 4 hours. Every effort will be made to advise HRA if there is any serious shortage.
• Expected completion of Line A is end November 2012
• Completion of the whole contract is end February 2013
As the new sections are strung with cable, cross connections will be made between the new and old lines to enhance the integrity of supply to Hilton. Some mitigation of load has taken place with Worlds View now being supplied from elsewhere, which explains why Worlds View has no outages whilst Hilton/Winterskloof may have no power.
An assurance was given that notice would be passed on to the HRA of any planned outages well in advance.
Further meetings will take place monthly, shortly after the regular monthly progress meeting with the contractor.
The source of the articles that appeared in The Witness recently is unknown as the information contained therein was inaccurate and misleading.
News from Howard Richardson for Hilton Ratepayers Association.