City Power achieves clean audit, hits 75% of targets

City Power has recorded several statistical improvements in the last financial year.  

The entity reported that it had improved their objective achievement rate by 15%, as well as being given an unqualified audit opinion by the Auditor General (AG) for the 2023/24 financial year.

The unqualified audit opinion shows that the AG found no material misstatements in City Power’s financial statements and that said statements were compiled using best accounting practices.

Reduction in outages

City Power attribute their success to the work done by CEO Tshifularo Mashava since she took charge of the entity in 2022.

In the 2022/23 financial year, City Power achieved 60.61% of its targets, a figure up to 75% for the most recently completed reporting period.

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Hours lost due to outages are what customers would judge the entity on and City Power report that it had reduced unplanned outages by 12.37%.

“Moreover, we recorded a striking 52% decline in infrastructure crimes, showcasing the effectiveness of our enhanced security measures,” stated City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena.

“Our efficiency in tackling unplanned outages remains high, with a restoration rate of 99.10%,” Mangena added.

Improved use of resources

Operational and logistical successes include the AG’s stamp of approval in the supply chain, asset and revenue management areas.

City Power were successful in connecting 3 500 new households to the electricity grid and exceeded their goal to empower 220 SMME’s by 50.4%.

They had a public lighting target of 700 new installations, a number they exceeded by 556.

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City Power are one of the 142 public entities managing R2.2 trillion worth of public funds which achieved a clean audit in the last financial year.

However, even their recorded revenue of R20.6 billion from the last year requires additional steps to address a R2.8 billion budget shortfall.

Debt to Eskom not yet paid

As of 27 November, the City of Johannesburg had still not paid the debt owed to Eskom by City Power and the municipality.

An intervention by Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, City Power were due to pay a R1.4 billion bill, a small portion of their R4.9 billion debt.

“It’s not a City Power problem, it’s not an Eskom problem, it’s a sector problem. But that sector problem now has evolved to become a sovereign problem,” stated Ramokgopa last week.

When I say it’s a sovereign problem, is that someone must bail these people out and that person to bail the people out is the fiscus,” the minister concluded.

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