City Power-less and less

Councillors of Wards 102, 104 and 106 arranged a public meeting with themselves, residents and City Power officials on 1 July at the Bryanston Country Club, to discuss matters regarding service delivery, or the lack thereof from the electricity provider.

City Power, however, once again failed to attend, even though they had promised the councillors in good faith that they would be there to answer questions from rate paying residents.

Councillor Stephen Moore of Ward 106 opened the discussion and raised pertinent issues regarding recent power outages and cable thefts in his ward, which according to him, have reached epidemic proportions.

“The reality is that these guys [cable thieves] are professionals, they are armed, and cable theft is particularly dangerous because before the power is cut completely, power surges are caused which can damage property and appliances,” stated Moore.

These damages can be claimed from the entity, Moore continued to say, although he compared the process of claiming from the city “like trying to get water from a stone.”

Ward 102 councillor David Potter also expressed his dismay at the lack of service delivery from the entity.

Potter stated that recent issues at the City Power Randburg depot caused operations to “largely grind to a halt” due to two of the five senior officials being suspended, and a third who resigned, leaving only two officials to deal with the work load.

Potter continued to lament about how one of the children’s homes, that he manages in his ward, was left without power for almost 56 hours, with one four-hour interval of power being restored before the power was cut off again.

“It’s serious. Power outages should be for four hours max, and it’s largely due to contractors’ ineptness and inability to manage outages.”

Another concern raised by the councillors, was substation maintenance and security.

Mike Wood, Ward 104 councillor, reiterated the urgency to have better security measures put in place in and around substations.

“Right now, in Logan Road [Bryanston], there is a substation that has been vandalised three times in recent months. We cannot get the city to actually put a fence around it. The best we got is a light shining onto it from a street light, so the vandals now can actually see what they are doing.”

Councillor Potter concluded his presentation at the meeting by committing to champion residents’ power concerns.

“Our main concern is the lack of management at the Randburg depot, shown here today – no one arrived at this meeting to account for what they are doing and what they are not doing… It’s sad that City Power is not here to represent themselves. I’m at a stage where, if I don’t get any response from officials, then I will be holding members of the mayoral committees to account.”