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City Power is confronting an unprecedented crisis, with over 2 900 service calls logged within 24 hours, as widespread outages affect numerous areas across Johannesburg.
On Friday morning, the utility’s Roodepoort Service Delivery Centre alone was managing 1 077 calls, with 532 of these logged within 24 hours.
The widespread outages have affected parts of Midrand, Roodepoort, Randburg, Hursthill, Alexandra, Reuven, and Johannesburg’s inner city.
In Roodepoort, the Kloofendal Switching Station outage left Constantia Kloof, Kloofendaal, and Constantia Kloof Extension 8 in the dark.
“16 mini substations will remain off until the two cable faults are repaired,” City Power stated.
The utility reported that power had been restored to 20% of the affected areas on Friday morning.
In Midrand, the Grand Central Substation experienced a significant failure.
“Transformer No.3 tripped causing an unplanned power outage to customers in Randjespark, Halfway House, Boulders, and possibly surrounding areas,” City Power stated.
On Friday morning, City Power said its Midrand Service Delivery Centre was managing “87 open calls; 29 of those have been logged in the past 24 hours”.
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The inner city faces extensive outages due to the Kazerne Substation failure.
City Power reported issues with the “Durban Street West Distributor, impacting city, suburban, Marshalltown, Maboneng, Jewel City, Jeppe, Kwa Mai Mai, Village Main, and the surrounding areas.”
The utility said work was handed over to the morning shift on Friday due to safety concerns.
Meanwhile, Rosebank Substation’s Saxonwold distributor failure has significantly impacted residents.
“We have since managed to restore 86% power supply. Our team will commence with repairs this morning on the two load centres that are affecting the remaining customers,” City Power announced.
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The Alexandra Service Delivery Centre reported 303 open calls, with 207 of those calls logged within 24 hours.
Additionally, the utility revealed there are 29 plants out of service in the area.
“A faulty pole-mounted transformer is affecting residents from 17th Avenue to 18th Avenue.”
Hursthill Service Delivery Centre is managing “501 open calls, and has 37 plants out of service”.
The Orlando Switching Station outage is “due to a faulty transformer affecting customers in Riverlea, Bosmont, parts of Newclare, Industria and possible surrounds”.
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Despite current challenges, City Power has announced several maintenance operations.
The utility confirmed work at Penny Street Substation which supplies power to the Witpoortjie, Groblerspark and Lindhaven areas.
Planned maintenance in the aforementioned areas is scheduled for Wednesday, 22 January 2025 from 8am until 4pm.
Meanwhile, at Florin Road Switching Station, power will be interrupted for maintenance on Tuesday, 21 January 2025 from 8am until 4pm.
Florin Road Switching Station keeps the lights on at Florin, Little Falls, Strubensvalley and parts of Honeydew.
Additional maintenance is scheduled for Jan Smuts Switching Station which covers Florida Park, Florida and a portion of Florida CBD.
“Essential, planned maintenance takes place on Tuesday, 4 February 2025,” said City Power.
City Power also announced planned maintenance for Bordeaux and Blairgowrie residents.
“Customers are hereby notified of a planned power interruption at Bordeaux Substation which has been scheduled for Tuesday, 28 January 2025.”
According to the utility, the interruption will take place from 9am until 5pm.
It also reiterated that load reduction has been temporarily suspended until the end of January.
However, the utility encouraged customers to use electricity sparingly to avoid triggering the need for an emergency reinstatement of load reduction.
“If a significant spike in consumption is detected, City Power may be forced to implement load reduction with little to no prior notice to protect the grid from potential collapse.”
ALSO READ: Load reduction remains suspended amid planned January maintenance
In Roodepoort, multiple areas face ongoing issues.
City Power reported that 90% of power has been restored to Manufacta Substation, which supplies power to Manufacta, Roodepoort West and surrounding areas.
It said the outage was caused by a cable fault, noting that the repair process is ongoing.
The utility also noted issues at Reefhaven Switching Station.
Reefhaven supplies Lindhaven, Groblerpark and surrounding areas.
“The poor weather conditions curbed timeous investigations. Operators will attend to this on Friday.”
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