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City Power has deployed all available personnel to rise to the challenge of Stage 6 load-shedding as outages and instances of cable theft are likely to increase in Johannesburg.

State-owned power entity Eskom announced scheduled blackouts to up to 12 hours a day as energy capacity drops due to lagging repairs at their fleet of failing power stations.

“It is an unfortunate fact that state blackouts translates into lengthy outages as pressures on our infrastructure increases exponentially. Johannesburg’s ageing network is simply not designed to be powered up and down, and to withstand the impacts of rush current several times a day without running the risk of severe technical faults,” MMC for Environment & Infrastructure Service (EISD) Cllr. Michael Sun said.

“Controlled blackouts also provide a handy schedule from which cable thieves are able to operate without running the risk of high-voltage electrocution.” 

City Power has ensured all available personnel – including team leaders and management staff – are on the ground to ensure the speedy resolution of outages and faults. 

“To every single Joburger: I feel your pain. But we need to pull together now and play our part by using electricity sparingly. Do not overload the system and run the risk of surges in your home and business when your power comes back by immediately activating all your appliances. If you see something suspicious in your area report it immediately to City Power or the police,” MMC Sun said.

“Rest assured too: Help is on the way. The first phase of Johannesburg’s Independent Power Producer program has been launched and in early 2023 we will know exactly how to navigate the city away from the socioeconomic poison of load-shedding.”

Issued by MMC:Environment and Infrastructure Services Department Michael Sun