Joburg’s vulnerable communities renew calls for City Power emergency generators

City Power is facing renewed calls for emergency generator support from vulnerable Johannesburg communities hit by repeated electricity outages in Ward 81, including Morningside Manor, Wendywood and Kelvin.

According to Sandton Chronicle the utility has responded by stating that generator deployment remains strictly dependent on operational assessments, technical requirements and equipment availability.

A health and safety concern

Ward 81 councillor Joanne Horwitz said elderly and vulnerable residents in retirement villages and private homes have been particularly hard-hit by recurring outages.

“The issue goes far beyond inconvenience,” said Horwitz. “Electricity is essential for people to cook meals, heat water for bathing, keep warm during winter, refrigerate food and medication, and maintain a basic standard of living. For many elderly residents and vulnerable households, prolonged outages can quickly become a health and safety concern.”

Horwitz said she would continue engaging City Power to seek emergency generator support where possible. She also intends to put forward a motion in council calling for a review of the utility’s generator deployment approach so that repeated outages affecting the same community are considered collectively, rather than as isolated incidents.

However, Horwitz acknowledged that the electricity demand of retirement villages and large vulnerable communities makes generator support particularly challenging.

“City Power’s mobile generators are simply not designed to carry that level of load, meaning that even where a generator is available, it may be unsuitable for providing even the minimum level of power required,” she said.

City Power explains constraints

In response, City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the decision to deploy a generator is made by operational teams managing outages at the utility’s service delivery centres.

“The decision to deploy a generator is informed by several operational considerations, including the nature and scale of the outage, the electricity demand of the affected area, the capacity required and the availability of an appropriate generator,” said Mangena.

Mangena explained that planned and unplanned outages are managed differently. Planned outages are scheduled for maintenance and upgrades, while unplanned outages are assessed individually as they may result from faults, equipment failures, theft, vandalism or other incidents.

He confirmed that City Power currently has 11 active mobile diesel generators of varying capacities available for emergency deployment.

“Mobile generators are generally intended to support smaller, localised outages where their capacity is sufficient to maintain supply while repairs are undertaken,” Mangena said.

Network restoration prioritised

City Power noted that larger areas, retirement villages and high-demand customers often require more electricity than a mobile generator can safely provide. In such cases, the utility prioritises restoring the network as quickly and safely as possible rather than relying on temporary generation.

Mangena added that City Power does not have a standalone public generator deployment policy but instead follows an internal standard operating procedure.

“City Power continuously reviews its operational procedures to improve service delivery and strengthen its emergency response. However, the long-term solution to recurring outages lies in ongoing investment in network maintenance, infrastructure refurbishment and system upgrades,” Mangena concluded.

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