Tanesco blames underground cable fault for power cuts in southern Dar es Salaam
Tanzania's power utility says a fault on a 132-kilovolt underground line at Gongo la Mboto has disrupted supply in Mbagala, Kigamboni, Mkuranga and Kibiti since Tuesday. A weaker backup line means some areas lose power at peak daytime hours.
The Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) says a fault on an underground 132-kilovolt transmission line is behind unreliable power in southern Dar es Salaam, Mwananchi reported. The fault struck at Gongo la Mboto on Tuesday, November 3. It has disrupted supply in Mbagala, Kigamboni, Mkuranga and Kibiti. Irene Gowelle, Tanesco's director of communications and customer service, briefed reporters on Thursday. She said the fault hit the underground cable that carries power from the Gongo la Mboto station to the Mbagala and Dege substations. Because it came suddenly, the utility could not warn customers in advance. As an emergency measure, Tanesco switched customers to another line to keep power flowing. That backup line is the problem, according to Zakaria Mgalama, Tanesco's deputy managing director for transmission. He said it has less capacity than the damaged line. As a result, some areas face load cuts when demand peaks, mainly during the day. At night, demand drops and all customers get power back. Mgalama said technicians are still working on the…
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