City Power responds to Joburg power interruptions

As winter temperatures continue to drop throughout the country‚ power outages are not making life any easier for Joburg residents.

Early on Tuesday morning‚ the inner city and parts of southern Johannesburg lost power as a result of simultaneous power outages at Hurlingham‚ Mondeor‚ Mulberton and Fort substations.

Power has since been restored to all the affected areas‚ namely Hurlingham‚ Aeroton‚ Alan Manor‚ Meredale‚ Mondeor‚ Ridgeway‚ Southgate Mall‚ Suideroord‚ Braamfontein‚ Braampark‚ Constitutional Hill and Parktown.

Another incident caused a separate power failure at the Klipfonteinview substation‚ which affected communities of Klipfontein View‚ Chloorkop and parts of Midrand.

City Power technical teams have since restored power at the Klipfonteinview substation.

The city is facing major challenges with respect to its ageing power infrastructure. According to Councillor Nico de Jager‚ MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Services‚ over 27% of the city’s bulk transformers operate beyond their useful lifespan‚ while the current electrical infrastructure backlog sits at a staggering R19-billion.

“This is one of the key areas on which the multi-party government seeks to make an impact. This is the fundamental change we wish to bring to the City of Johannesburg‚” said de Jager.

In the 2018/2019 financial year‚ City Power has been allocated a R1-billion capital budget‚ a 25% increase from the previous year’s budget.

Over the next three years‚ the focus of City Power’s capital investment strategy will be to refurbish and expand the network. This will involve refurbishing key substations and replacing ageing transformers‚ switchgear and transmission lines‚ particularly at Sebenza‚ Rooseveldt Park‚ Orlando‚ Eldorado Park‚ Cleveland‚ Mulbarton‚ Nancefield‚ Wilro Park and Lutz substations.

Planned upgrades to these facilities are expected to help stabilise City Power’s infrastructure.

“This is part of our commitment to ensure that the City of Johannesburg shines brightly at night once more and brings safety and security to the neighbourhoods in desperate need‚” said de Jager.

“We would like to apologize for the inconvenience caused to our customers‚” added de Jager‚ urging all customers to reduce the electricity demand by switching off geysers during the day and switching off all electrical appliances‚ lights and heaters in rooms that are not occupied. 

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