While City Power believes that taking over the power supply from Eskom in the municipality is a ‘great start’ to ensure reliable power distribution across the city, parts of the community do not see it that way.
According to Executive Mayor Mpho Moerane, the city signed a memorandum of understanding with Eskom on October 13 which will see the municipal power utility begin planning the takeover of 14 Eskom-supplied areas, including Sandton.
“What remains now is for City Power and Eskom to explore in detail how the takeover from the national utility by our municipal entity can be best executed,” he said.
Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantasha noted that any transaction was still a few years away as due diligence must be followed.
“In terms of the regulations, all affected stakeholders will be part of the decision-making process,” said Mantshantasha.
A majority of the affected stakeholders are Eskom customers – in Sandton this includes residents in Bryanston, Rivonia, Woodmead, Kelvin, Marlboro and Buccleuch.
Rivonia resident Nicci Cox described Eskom as a nightmare due to their lack of communication and depleting infrastructure.
According to long-time Buccleuch residents Ismail Akoob and Lauren Nightingale, transferring to City Power is not a solution.
“I have been a City Power customer before I moved to Buccleuch and dealing with Eskom directly is heaven compared to City Power… in my opinion [this transfer] is disastrous,” said Akoob.
Nightingale believes that City Power will only bring longer turnaround times, increased prepaid electricity costs per unit and constant capacity issues.
“I can’t see City Power doing any facility upgrades, adding additional security to high risk areas; we would still be in the dark if we had more substation vandalism.
“The only single positive I can envisage would be the fact that the City Power logging system shows the status of your logged faults.”
Ward 109 councillor Liaquad Ebrahim, who oversees a number of formal and informal areas serviced by both Eskom and City Power, described the community’s electricity crisis as critical.
He added that councillors do not have much access to Eskom, whereas they have a direct line with City Power.
“There are many problems with power supply due to illegal connections [in the informal areas], however, they are resolved and followed up [with City Power].
“As for the other part of my ward where the electricity supply comes from Eskom, [it] is a nightmare. Their customer care line is non supportive and customers are constantly complaining of their services.”
Ebrahim noted that while this will be a lengthy process, should it go ahead, residents must be active and get involved as this directly affects them.
ALSO READ:
