Joburg Residents Furious with City Power’s Snail-Paced Response to Power Outages

Johannesburg residents are feeling the heat due to delayed response times from City Power regarding power outages occurring independently of the rolling blackouts schedule. Eskom’s rolling blackout crisis has put tremendous pressure on City Power to provide an uninterrupted power supply to its customers. As a result, households across the City have reported extended power outages, leaving many in dire straits, as SABC News reports. Residents have expressed frustration with City Power’s response times and the need for follow-up from managers and councillors.

One family was cut off from electricity for more than 40 hours, which could have cost Ruben Nadesan’s infirm mother her life as she relies on a ventilator full-time. Fortunately, she was in the hospital during the power outage. However, Nadesan says trying to resolve the matter has been a constant struggle. He adds that it is scary because they trust the municipality to help when they need electricity.

City Power is investigating the matter, and spokesperson Isaac Mangena says they realised remotely that the property was not buying electricity. Upon arrival, they discovered an open circuit on the meter, and the last time it traded was in December.

Eskom announced a prolonged Stage 6 rolling blackout this week due to frequent malfunctions at its power plant fleets.

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Picture:  Photo by Paolo Nicolello on Unsplash