City Power’s business customers and Large Power Users (LPUs) in the Midrand Service Delivery Centre (SDC) supply area will have their meters audited.
The programme will run from October 27 to November 4, between 08:00 and 16:00 on weekdays, as part of ongoing efforts to modernise operations, improve billing accuracy, and enhance the overall reliability of the electricity network.
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City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said during the audits, their teams would be inspecting LPU meters, business meters, and mini-substation (MSS) units. He said their technicians would also verify that each meter was correctly linked to its supply point and the relevant substation.
He said Midrand SDC had an overall debt of about R463m, with R214m owed by LPUs, R48m by businesses, and R201m by residential customers.
“In addition, the audits will confirm the number of meters connected to each MSS. These audits are a critical preparatory step for the installation of advanced equipment that will help reduce electricity losses, improve monitoring, and ensure quicker fault detection.
“The new equipment will include low-voltage power metering and monitoring devices to improve billing accuracy, on-demand solutions to stabilise power supply, and sensors to monitor transformer temperature, weather conditions, humidity, smoke, water leaks, and access control for improved safety and reliability,” said Mangena.
He added, additionally, City Power was recording a significant portion of energy losses due to bypassed meters and illegal reconnections, which continued to pose serious operational and financial challenges.
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“To address electricity losses, we will be rolling out the Intelligent Distribution System (IDS), a cutting-edge solution designed to curb network abnormalities, reduce energy theft, and address technical losses.
Technical losses caused by system inefficiencies account for about 9%, while non-technical losses, including theft and illegal connections, are around 20%, together translating into annual financial losses of roughly R3.6b.”
The IDS system monitors supply at the substation level, detects problems downstream, identifies theft, monitors phase imbalances, and tracks reactive energy in real time.
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