Frustrated residents of 7th Avenue, plunged into darkness for weeks, are refusing to accept City Power’s alleged claim that the utility’s infrastructure supplying electricity to the area is faulty unless the utility proves it in front of them.

Ward 107 councillor Floyd Ngwenya said the community is adamant that the substation box must be tested on site, in their presence. This comes as residents express distrust over whether the equipment is genuinely damaged or whether the outage is being used as leverage in broader disputes around payments and compliance.

Read more: City Power stands firm on restoration and normalisation fee amid 6th and 7th Avenue outages

“That is what I have requested from City Power as a councillor, and they have confirmed that they are going to come,” Ngwenya said.

He claimed that residents have never refused to pay the required R500 per household, or the R200 fee for those on the Extended Social Package, when the mini-substation burns out. He said they only want to see the evidence first that the box is not working.

City Power acknowledged the outage in the area but attributed it to a combination of infrastructure challenges, high electricity consumption, network normalisation issues, illegal connections, meter bypassing, and low purchases by some customers.

Spokesperson Isaac Mangena said efforts to restore supply are ongoing, but “certain conditions related to the normalisation process and customer compliance must first be addressed.”

The prolonged blackout has tested the community’s patience and heightened tensions with neighbouring Vukani informal settlement, where a separate electrification project has been stalled by the dispute. A transformer had already been delivered to the Vukani site, but community disruptions halted progress, according to both the councillor and City Power.

Also read: City Power bleeds as only 4% of 40 000 customers in Alexandra pay for power

Ngwenya noted that he had previously advised the contractor working on the Vukani project to pause until tensions eased. He said he recently met the contractor again, who indicated that work on reinstalling or replacing the box would resume once conditions allow.

However, City Power has not provided any firm timeline for resolution. “There is no confirmed timeframe for the resumption and completion of the project,” Mangena said, adding that stakeholders would be informed once plans are clearer.

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