Private contractor hits power cable, plunges EL into darkness

private contractor hits power cable, plunges el into darkness

yet another power failure struck several east london suburbs yesterday in the third major outage since thursday.

the latest blackout occurred in berea, vincent, nahoon and dorchester heights and was caused by a private contractor.

but trying to get answers proved frustrating for both the daily dispatch and residents, who complained to the newspaper that the city's helpline was not helpful.

vincent gardens resident inge van dordrecht said yesterday the power went out between 8.45am and 9.45am and then again at 11.45am.

"i phoned the emergency numbers and was told that private contractors had hit a big cable twice in one day. i couldn't get anything more out of them," she said.

"what idiot can hit a cable twice in one day? i'd like to know if they are going to pay for everybody's work time that is now lost," she said.

van dordrecht said she told her husband she wanted a generator for christmas, so that she could continue with her work without fear of interruptions in the electricity supply.

dorchester heights resident gail gerber said she woke up with no electricity yesterday morning. "it's a terrible inconvenience," she said, adding it was proving impossible to complete her household chores.

yesterday evening the municipality finally returned calls from the dispatch to clarify details of the latest outage. bcm's director of engineering services, shaun peard, confirmed that a private contractor working in vincent's frere road had hit a power cable. "it was not related to last week's power outages," said peard.