Ratepayer, George:
I live in First Street and cannot understand how the municipality is allowing the streetlights here and in the surrounding areas to burn 24 hours a day, for three weeks now. This while we are all trying to save energy and costs.
Michael Rhode, director: Electrotechnical Services, George Municipality, responds:
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We will dispatch a team to investigate what the cause might be. The Electrical Department is in the process of setting up an effective maintenance plan that will cover all streetlight challenges for the greater George area, which will be made public.
These measures aim to restore and improve the reliability of streetlight operations.
The current situation with streetlights in George not operating as expected, stems from several factors:
1. Centralised control system dependence: Most streetlights are controlled via a central computer system. This system relies on an overhead fibre optic network to transmit control signals to the main substations. Vandalism of these cables has disrupted the signal transmission.
2. Maintenance activities: Streetlights may remain on due to maintenance operations. During repairs, the control circuit is often manually activated, and sometimes the automatic switchover function fails to reset after the work is completed.
3. Faulty control circuits: Malfunctions in the control circuits can prevent automatic switching, affecting sections of streetlights.
