City Power recalls staff from leave, increases overtime to clear electricity outage backlog

City Power has intensified efforts to clear the backlog of power outages that have affected various parts of Johannesburg due to several contributing factors, including localised flooding, cable theft, and vandalism.

On Sunday, the utility handled more than 6 000 logged outage queries, mainly from the Johannesburg Inner City, Roodepoort, Hursthill, and Randburg.

According to City Power’s General Manager Isaac Mangena, most of these outages were caused by Medium Voltage (MV) issues.

“Each of these areas has accounted for an average of a thousand outage calls,” Mangena said.

The utility said it has recalled employees from leave, deployed additional technicians, and increased overtime for staff, to tackle the backlog particularly in high-pressure areas.

ALSO READ: City Power outages: Over 5 807 calls logged as multiple Johannesburg areas experience blackouts

Progress in resolving outages

City Power, on Saturday, resolved five out of eight outages in the Inner City, Roodepoort, and Randburg.

The following sub-stations still need to be fixed:

• Bree Substation
• Observatory Substation
• Van Beek Substation
• Peter Road Switching Station
• Beyers Naude Substation
• Roosevelt Substation
• Tin Road Substation

ALSO READ: City Power affected by flooding: These Joburg areas have issues

Heavy rainfall, load shedding, and vandalism add pressure

The delays in addressing outages were exacerbated by heavy rainfall last week, which resulted in flooding and infrastructure damage.

“The main contributing factor to the massive delays we’ve encountered… was the heavy rainfall this week, which resulted in localised flooding,” Mangena explained on Sunday.

Mangena stated that the flooding, combined with the reintroduction of load shedding, placed further strain on City Power’s already stretched resources.

During load shedding over the weekend, the utility also faced an uptick in cable theft and vandalism, further delaying repairs.

“While we were dealing with the flooding, load-shedding added pressure and caused further delays. We often encounter an increase in the number of incidents of theft and vandalism during load shedding,” he added.

ALSO READ: Johannesburg revitalisation: Free Wi-Fi and service delivery operations

Residents urged to reduce consumption

City Power urged residents to reduce electricity consumption during this period to avoid overloading the network.

The utility also requested that residents remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity around their infrastructure, particularly during load shedding.

“We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused by prolonged outages. We call on customers to reduce consumption and report any suspicious activity to help us manage this challenging period,” Mangena concluded.

City Power continues to monitor and resolve outages, working to restore full service to all affected areas.

NOW READ: Joburg power crisis: Over 100 plants offline across Joburg