Tensions are brewing between the community of Eldorado Park and Johannesburg City Power after residents experienced almost a week-long power outage between July 8 and 12.
Patriotic Alliance ward councillors, Dwain Ponsonby and Juwairiya Kaldine convened a public meeting with residents of Ward 17 and 18, and City power officials to discuss the resident’s concerns at Don Mateman Hall, EXT 5, Eldorado Park on July 13.
Residents voiced their frustrations against the unequal and unfair implementation of load reduction, which they deemed worse than load shedding which offered inaccurate schedule.
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They accused City Power of singling out Eldorado Park and subjecting it to ridiculous hours of load reduction because it was a coloured community.
Kaldine said this issue has been going on even before they were elected as councillors back in 2021.
She said City Power does not have enough resources to control the grid, as she explained that when they were serviced by Eskom they did not have problems during load reduction, because it was automatic and on time.
This means when Eskom provides a schedule, the power cuts are implemented on time and power is restored on time, she added.
She said the problem started arising when City Power took over the responsibility of Eskom after Eskom said they do not want to supply City Power anymore with electricity because it was unable to pay.
“City Power does not have enough level A operators because the Eldorado Park substation is a manual substation.
“Meaning a level A operator has to be on the ground to switch the supply on and off, however, at times you would find that the operator is not around anymore and he is unable to switch electricity back on, especially at night,” said Kaldine.
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She said Eldorado Park has experienced power outages for the past three consecutive years during the Easter weekend because the substation burnt down.
“We have a new substation that is being built there, but it has been a white elephant since the tenure of former Mayor Herman Mashaba under the Democratic Alliance.
“That substation has been standing, we have fought in council for budgets to be released for the substation to continue but every year it seems like an endless problem. Every year there are always excuses for budgets,” she continued.
She said they recently had residents complaining that they went for four to six days without power.
The electricity was actually off since Monday evening, load reduction was from 6 pm until 8 pm, they switched off the electricity at 6 pm and the electricity never went back on at 8 pm.
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She expressed disappointment about the nonattendance by the CoJ Mayor, Kabelo Gwamanda, City Power CEO and MMC for environmental and infrastructure services.
“All we are saying as a community and as ward councillors is just treat us fairly. If you switch us off, switch us back on time.
“This is not a community that does not want to pay for services, people are willing to pay but how do you pay for services when the rent office is always offline?” she asked.
“We had an operation not so long ago where we were cutting the electricity of Somalian shops and gave them two years to go and apply for single phase or three phase and people abided by it. So we are willing to work with City Power but it refuses to work with communities and councillors,” she concluded.
Residents also raised the issue of lack of public participation in the introduction of the R 200 service fee by City Power, as they pointed out that poverty-stricken families will not be able to afford it.
They further demanded an audit of the infrastructure and the community to verify if the supply meets the demand of Eldorado Park residents.
Another concerning issue that got residents on their feet is the fact that every time there is an issues with power stations in other areas like Orlando and Lenesia, Eldorado Park is also affected.
City Power General Manager, Nelson Rauliku proposed the launch of a pilot project to normalise where breakers and meters were not installed.
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He said this will prevent the tripping at substations because once a household has bypassed the system, when there is an electrical fault it trips the substation because there are no meters and breakers in every house.
“We need to be honest, social problems need social solutions, not necessarily engineering solutions. We have got a new substation that maybe in two weeks we are going to switch on. But if certain social issues are not addressed, you are going to still have outages,” Rauliku explained.
“I must be honest because, I don’t want this substation to be on, then after two weeks, you experience outages again. The overload will still be there if we don’t get a solution for it. That is an honest fact.”
In agreement with the community, Ponsonby proposed that City Power should consult and return with solutions to challenges that were raised by residents during the meeting.
A request was further made to expel load reduction in Eldorado Park while officials looked into possible solutions.
