Power outage cripples Lenasia as traffic lights fail and businesses shut

A major power outage has plunged parts of Lenasia into darkness after a critical network failure at the Orlando Switching Station, causing widespread traffic chaos as non-functional robots left motorists navigating busy intersections manually.

The blackout hit areas supplied through the Lenasia Service Delivery Centre, including Nirvana and surrounding suburbs, disrupting households and forcing businesses to halt operations amid the prolonged electricity cut.

City Power spokesperson, Isaac Mangena, stated that the crisis began when a pole-mounted transformer at Eikenhof catastrophically failed and caught fire in the early hours, tripping the Orlando Switching Station.

“While our operators managed to restore the initial interruption, a secondary fault later developed on one of the Eikenhof breakers feeding the Orlando Switching Station. This ongoing fault continues to affect supply across the network and is now the focus of our technical investigations,” Mangena said.

He noted that the Orlando Switching Station is a vital node in Johannesburg’s electricity grid, feeding multiple substations that power large swathes of southern and western Johannesburg, with customers supplied through the Reuven, Lenasia and Hursthill Service Delivery Centres also impacted.

According to City Power, customers supplied through the Lenasia Service Delivery Centre who remain affected include Eldorado Park, New Eldorado Park, Nancefield, Nirvana and parts of Soweto supplied by the Nancefield, New Eldorado Park, Nirvana and Soweto substations.

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In Lenasia, the outage severely disrupted daily life – residents faced hours without power, businesses struggled to stay open, and drivers were forced to cautiously edge through gridlocked intersections with traffic lights completely dark.

Mangena confirmed that technical teams, operators and protection specialists remain on-site to identify the fault before repairs can commence.

“Restoring power safely while preserving network integrity is our top priority,” he emphasised.

City Power has already restored electricity to parts of Eikenhof and Rand Water, enabling pumping operations to resume at reduced capacity. However, Mangena cautioned that it remains too early to give an estimated restoration time for other affected areas.

“An estimated time for full restoration will only be released once our teams complete their investigations and determine the full scope of repairs needed,” he added.

City Power apologised for the disruption to residents, businesses and essential services, pledging to provide updates as further information becomes available.