Joburg Residents Frustrated Over City Power’s Unexplained Ticket Closures

Joburg residents are growing increasingly frustrated with City Power’s ticketing system, which continues to close unresolved fault tickets without explanation. Power outages and cryptic updates have left many feeling trapped in a cycle of logging complaints and receiving unsatisfactory responses.

The Problem with Closed Tickets

City Power’s current system closes logged fault tickets under ambiguous terms like “closed,” “cancelled,” or “completed.” Often, these closures occur without the issue being addressed, forcing residents to log new tickets repeatedly.

In November 2023, a council report titled “Close Calls” acknowledged the communication issues but provided unclear solutions. The report explained tickets are sometimes closed when:

• Multiple tickets are logged for the same issue.
• Area-wide outages are restored, and all related calls are grouped and closed.

However, this explanation fails to account for the numerous instances where tickets are closed prematurely without rectifying the faults.

City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena recently addressed complaints, stating the utility is working on improving its communication. He assured that future messages would include explanations for ticket closures.

Despite these promises, little progress has been made since the 2023 report, which recommended alerting customers when their calls are grouped rather than closed. To date, customers continue to receive vague and confusing updates.

The lack of clarity has fueled suspicions of negligence or even fraud, with some residents questioning whether tickets are being closed to falsely claim work completion. The situation is exacerbated by prolonged power outages and mounting frustrations.

A Call for Change

City Power’s failure to provide clear communication has led to growing dissatisfaction among residents and local councillors. Many believe a simple solution could resolve the issue:

• Implement a system where ticket closures require selecting a clear reason from predefined options.
• Provide residents with concise explanations for ticket statuses.

As one resident aptly noted, “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.”

City Power’s next steps will determine whether it can regain the trust of Joburg residents. Addressing the communication gaps in the ticketing system should be prioritized to avoid further frustrations and restore sanity to a chaotic process.

Follow Joburg ETC on Facebook, Twitter , TikTok and Instagram

For more News in Johannesburg, visit joburgetc.com