City Power has dismissed claims that Friendship Town Estate residents in Commercia Ext 9 were promised their monthly R250 electricity service fee would fall away after two years of smart meter installations.

The utility said the fixed charge forms part of the approved municipal electricity tariff structure and cannot simply be discontinued in individual areas. The response follows a protest on September 3, when residents burned tyres and barricaded roads with stones and debris over a prolonged power outage and ongoing water supply problems.

Residents said they had been without electricity for about six days and that the power outage had also affected their water supply. They also demanded an end to the monthly fixed charge, stating that they had previously been told it would eventually be scrapped and that other areas were not paying it.

Read more: Power restored to Friendship Town Estate following resident protest

City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the applicable fixed monthly charge for residential prepaid customers comprises a R70 service charge and a R130 network capacity charge. “These charges are separate from the customer’s electricity consumption charges and contribute towards the fixed costs associated with providing and maintaining the electricity network,” said Mangena.

He said the service charge contributes towards the costs of maintaining and operating the electricity distribution network, while the network capacity charge contributes towards maintaining the capacity required to supply customers.

Mangena said the charges also contribute to the utility’s ability to maintain infrastructure, respond to faults, replace failed equipment and invest in network upgrades, adding that City Power had not promised residents the applicable service charge would be discontinued after two years.

He added that fixed charges apply to both prepaid and postpaid residential customers, although the amounts differ according to the applicable tariff category.

Residents experiencing financial hardship were encouraged to approach their nearest City of Johannesburg customer service centre to enquire about social support programmes and whether they qualify for assistance with municipal services.

Power restored following transformer failure

City Power confirmed that electricity supply to Friendship Town Estate was fully restored on September 3.
Mangena said the outage was caused by a failed transformer on the Eskom side of the network.

City Power was notified of the outage on August 29, at approximately 12:00, and attended to it at around 14:00, when Eskom was notified of the fault at its site.

Eskom technicians attended to the site on the same day and detected a fault inside the transformer, Mangena said. Further testing was conducted on August 30, with oil samples taken from the transformer for analysis. The results were received late on August 31, after which the affected transformer was taken out of service.

Also read: Midrand residents protest ongoing water crisis

City Power and Eskom then worked on connecting the other transformer to the network. Cable connections, protection wiring and testing were completed before supply was restored.

Mangena said the testing was necessary to ensure that the appropriate protection mechanisms were in place to safeguard the transformer and the network against potential damage.

Mini-substation request

Residents had also called for a dedicated mini-substation to serve Friendship Town Estate, stating that they wanted infrastructure that would benefit the estate.

City Power said the estate already has mini-substations within the complex supplying electricity to residents. “Any proposal for additional infrastructure would need to be assessed based on technical requirements, available network capacity and applicable planning and infrastructure processes,” said Mangena.

He said the feasibility and timelines would depend on the outcome of such an assessment.
Mangena said City Power had kept residents informed through outage updates and customer alerts regarding the status of the outage and restoration efforts.

The utility’s response follows a media enquiry sent by Midrand Reporter on September 3. Johannesburg Water had not yet responded to questions about the ongoing water problems at the estate. Its response will be published once received.

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