PUBLISHED ONNovember 09, 2023 4:42 AMByClaudia TanSome Potong Pasir residents were left with damaged electrical appliances after experiencing voltage fluctuations in their power supply.
And the culprit? Termites.
The outage occurred at Block 102 Potong Pasir Ave 1 on Oct 13 at about 11am, reported Shin Min Daily News.
A total of 41 households in that block were affected by the power fluctuation.
When a reporter from the Chinese daily visited the block on Tuesday (Nov 7), several residents complained that their daily activities were affected by the disruption to their power supply.
Retiree Dai Youde (transliteration) said he was using his massage chair that morning.
"I heard a pop sound," said the 75-year-old.
"The staff came to help me turn on the main switch. The living room lights came back on but my massage chair stopped working. The lights in the kitchen were also damaged. We had to spend more than $20 to replace the lights, and another $170 to repair the massage chair.
"I kept the receipts but I don't know if I can claim the damages," said a helpless Dai.
Another resident, Wang, shared that her TV set-top box and fridge were damaged because of the incident.
"We didn't know where to find a repairman, so we didn't watch TV for three weeks. We later found someone and spent $140 repairing the set-top box.
"I also had to find someone to repair the fridge, and I was told that the electrical board was overheated and had to be replaced. I ended up paying an extra $40 for transportation fees. I initially had two fridges, now there's only one. I don't dare buy another as I'm worried I won't be able to claim the amount."
A third resident, Deng, told the Chinese daily that all three air conditioners in his home were spoilt. His children have helped him to hire a repairman, and are looking into claiming the damages from the town council.
On Oct 16, the Jalan Besar Town Council posted on Facebook addressing the matter.
"There was a half an hour power outage at Potong Pasir last Friday and our team worked throughout the night to rectify the issue. We also checked in on residents door to door to make sure that they had stable electricity in their units."
In the same post, the town council also shared a compliment they received from a resident.
The unnamed resident wrote: "I am writing this to compliment your town council/SP PowerGrid team who shared their best efforts to support the residents in Potong Pasir Block 102 during a critical time period which required two days [to] rectify.
"They were able to resolve the issue which helped us resume our family activities."
The resident also urged the town council to reward the team for their work.
In a written reply to a Parliamentary Question regarding the incident, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said on Monday that the voltage fluctuation was due to a termite infestation of a backup cable at the Potong Pasir Ave 1 substation.
The Ministry explained that SP PowerGrid was conducting some upgrading works at the Potong Pasir substation on Oct 13.
"As part of the upgrading works, SP PowerGrid’s workers routed the power supply to a backup cable to maintain electricity supply for residents of the block.
"However, the backup cable was damaged due to a termite infestation. This led to voltage fluctuations which caused household appliances to trip or malfunction in 41 units in Block 102. SP PowerGrid resolved the situation within 30 minutes of its occurrence," said the Ministry.
The damaged backup cable at the substation has since been repaired, and SP PowerGrid is working with the Jalan Besar Town Council to extend assistance to the affected residents, said MTI.
MTI added that the Energy Market Authority has worked with SP PowerGrid to review their workflows for upgrading works.
