Electricity outages in Ekurhuleni have been a cause of concern and frustration for numerous residents with GCN receiving complaints weekly.
GCN reported last week that Tedstoneville business owners were concerned about the local economy suffering due to power outages while Sunnyridge residents reported financial losses after a power surge caused damage to household appliances in Clarence Avenue.
Galway Street resident and manager of one of an apartment block on the same street Moeketsi Mapisi told GCN that eight of the 16 flats have been without electricity since April 1.
As a result, her business is also suffering.
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“I have gone to the municipal offices to report this problem on several occasions, but we are still without electricity,” Mapisi said.
“I always pay my bills on time and I pay them in full. I have all the receipts to prove. Last month, I paid around R20 635. My tenants have to work from home and they have all these appliances that need electricity.
“Children need WI-FI to complete school assignments. I have more than five reference numbers and still nothing,” said Mapisi.
A tenant told GCN that she has been a resident for 14 years and that the power outages are becoming an increasing concern.
“Never in the history of the City of Ekurhuleni technicians has it taken so long to fix our problems,” said tenant Penny Roodt.
“I am the trusted caretaker of these buildings and because of that, I went to the City of Ekurhuleni offices twice to investigate what might be the problem. They told me twice the technicians will be sent to fix the problem.
“One of the tenants had no electricity for 14 days in January. This calls for concern. Eight blocks currently have no electricity and they had to throw away most of their food from their fridges,” said Roodt.
In the latest budget speech by MMC for finance Nkosindiphile Xhakaza, the CoE announced it will allocate funds to the energy department to upgrade substations.
Xhakaza said, “In keeping our lights on, we are allocating R1.3-billion (MTREF) and R401-million for the 2021/22 financial year to the energy department.
“A sum of R114-m is going to the upgrading of substations, including Atom Road in Germiston. We are allocating R28-m towards metering and R5.4-m towards lighting,” said Xhakaza.
Contact the newsroom by emailing: Marietta Lombard (Editor) germistoncitynews@caxton.co.za, or (Journalists) Busi Vilakazi busiv@caxton.co.za
