City promises to end power crisis in Germiston
The City's power outages are caused by a number of factors that the energy department is constantly addressing them.
The Germiston power crisis has worsened in recent months, with the availability of electricity seemingly becoming impossible.
It has become a norm for power outages to last a week, sometimes even two and residents often complain about lack of communication from CoE.
Residents have claimed that they have been told by contractors that they don’t work overtime leading to contractors leaving without the jobs being completed.
GCN sent an enquiry to the CoE about the energy issue and what action plan is in place to provide a stable power supply.
Spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said the constant power outages are caused by multiple factors.
“Germiston has a large electricity network. Ageing infrastructure, load-shedding, theft, vandalism and overloading of the network due to illegal connections and tampering contributes to outages,” said Dlamini.
He said the city is doing its best to attend to power outages.
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“Each outage will have its technical challenges. The city responds to outages to restore supply. Frequently failing circuits are considered for refurbishment. Illegal connections are removed frequently in conjunction with EMPD, SAPS and other stakeholders,” said Dlamini.
Dlamini said overtime is based on basic conditions of employment.
“Contractors are used on an as-and-when-required basis to assist where there is no in-house staff capacity to address/handle the incident.
“The internal staff members are limited in terms of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and the requirements of the Occupational Health and Safety Act on the overtime worked.
“Work outside normal working hours is performed by standby teams on a rotational basis.
“Contractors are paid in line with the approved contract for work performed after verification of work done and approval of invoices in line with the supply chain management processes of the city,” said Dlamimi.
He said the city is working on the backlog of cable faults in the area.
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“The power issue is being addressed in Germiston. Both internal staff and appointed service providers are working to reduce the backlog,” said Dlamini.
He also urged residents to regularly check for updates on power outage on digital platforms, call centres and media alerts as the city regularly update them.
