Easter in the Dark? City Power explains Johannesburg outages

Multiple areas across Johannesburg experienced electricity outages throughout the Easter weekend, prompting concerns from residents who found themselves without power during the holiday period.

City Power has attributed these disruptions to various causes, including overloading, cable theft, vandalism, cable faults, and equipment failures.

Despite acknowledging the inconvenience to customers, the utility maintains that the spike in outages during this time was not unusual.

“Although power interruptions are an inconvenience for our customers, unplanned outages can occur at any time without warning. This weekend’s statistics are not unusual,” said Isaac Mangena, City Power’s spokesperson.

Regional distribution of City Power outages

The data provided by City Power shows varying impacts across different regions.

The affected areas included the following:

• Midrand
• Parktown
• Ruimsig
• Northcliff
• Joburg CBD
• Bramley

Inner City experienced some of the highest numbers of medium voltage outages during the Easter period, while areas like Midrand saw fewer disruptions.

The utility maintains service delivery centres in Midrand, Randburg, Hursthill, Reuven, Inner City, Roodepoort, Lenasia, and Alexandra.

“Overloading happens when the electricity network is placed under excessive pressure due to the demand, and often during peak usage times or illegal connections, causing strain on the network that can lead to outages,” Mangena explained when addressing the causes behind these frequent disruptions.

Despite residents’ frustrations with the timing of these outages during a holiday weekend, City Power maintains that the level of disruption remained within typical parameters for their service area.

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City Power outage data shows mixed picture

However, comparative data provided by the utility tell a more complex story.

Statistics comparing Easter periods year-over-year reveal an increase in medium voltage (MV) outages, with 33 incidents recorded this year compared to 27 during the same period last year.

City Power defines medium voltage outages as those that “impact an entire suburb or several suburbs due to faults in larger power lines or equipment such as mini substations, a distributor, substation, or transformer substation that supply power to 20 to 30 households or even more.”

Meanwhile, high voltage (HV) outages showed a slight decrease, dropping from three incidents last year to two this year.

According to City Power, “High Voltage outages are the most serious and can leave large parts of an area without electricity.”

These major disruptions occur when the main power lines transporting electricity across long distances experience breakdowns or damage.

The data did not include information about low-voltage outages, which typically affect individual homes or small clusters of houses on the same street.

These smaller-scale issues often stem from damaged meter boxes, faulty wiring, or household electrical problems.

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Holiday impact on power network

City Power noted that extended holiday weekends typically see reduced electricity demand across Johannesburg.

“During longer weekends or extended holidays, we typically experience reduced electricity demand. This is largely because many residents travel out of the city and some businesses temporarily close,” explained Mangena.

“As a result, capacity on the network begins to ease.”

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How City Power manages multiple simultaneous outages

When questioned about how the utility handles multiple outages occurring in different areas at the same time, Mangena explained their operational approach.

“All our SDCs are equipped with the necessary resources to respond to unplanned outages efficiently. This includes technical and testing teams, operators, contractors, and metering teams, among others,” said Mangena.

The complexity of the network presents significant challenges in locating faults.

“If the issue involves a cable, the task becomes more complex due to the vast size of City Power’s network, which includes over 20 000 kilometres of underground and overhead cables,” Mangena explained.

Mangena said in many cases, teams must physically walk considerable distances and use specialised equipment to detect fault locations.

Once identified, accessing underground cables requires excavation, which is particularly time-consuming when dealing with concrete or paved surfaces.

“In some cases, coordination with the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) is required to obtain a wayleave before digging on public roads can commence,” added Mangena.

“The overall duration of fault identification and repair can range from a few hours to several days, depending on the complexity of the situation.”

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