City Power is owed roughly R13 billion by residents, businesses and large power users.
Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero at City Power’s Key Customer Forum on 29 June. Picture: Supplied / City Power
City Power claims it is set to begin the next phase of its evolution that would position it to rescue Johannesburg’s electricity sector.
Officials wrapped up a two-day conference on Tuesday where the future of the entity’s operations was mapped out.
City Power took over its billing responsibilities last year and will this year begin the process of ringfencing its revenue collection for its own operations.
This week’s conference featured discussions with government institutions that owed the entity roughly R270 million – a fraction of the R13.3 billion owed by residents, businesses and large power users.
However, a group scrutinising the municipality’s performance over the past several years stated much more needed to be done to arrest the city’s administrative decline.
Over R5 billion monthly revenue
City Power’s Key Customer Forum featured commercial and industrial electricity users who accounted for roughly R2.3 billion of the entity’s R5.1 billion monthly revenue.
Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero stated that City Power’s overseeing of the city’s electricity billing had proved a success, justifying the transferring of greater responsibility.
“In 2024, we took a decision to migrate billing directly to City Power, and we implemented it in 2025. Now City Power is responsible for the billing function.
“The next stage is looking at how we ringfence the revenue coming from City Power, so that it is meaningfully reinvested back into City Power as an entity,” said Morero.
Though accounts are still issued through the municipality, City Power has full oversight over the billing process, which it states has led to fewer estimation errors and better query resolution.
“There were approximately 8 000 queries when City Power took over the function in July 2025, and now we are sitting below 2 000.
“We are monitoring those queries on a daily basis to ensure they are resolved,” said City Power Chief Commercial Officer Thamsanqa Mathiso.
City Power challenges
Community organisation JoburgCan recently detailed the mountain City Power needed to climb in its analysis of the municipality’s previous Integrated Development Plan (IDP).
JoburgCan noted that the amount owed to the municipality’s electricity debtors stood at R12.8 billion, with just over 179 000 households on a domestic lighting backlog.
“In 2022-23, the city aimed to reduce electricity losses from 28.9% in 2020-21 to 14% by 2026/27.
“Instead, the problem worsened and, in the draft IDP 2026-27, the city aims to reduce electricity losses from the current 31.9% to 25.83% in 2026/27,” JoburgCan’s report states.
The municipal watchdog added that the city electrified 5 700 informal dwellings in 2021-22, but that dropped to between 1 200 and 1 500 for the subsequent financial years.
“Now the city aims to electrify 4 000 homes in 2026/27. Again, is this realistic?” JoburgCan asked.
The group questioned whether the billing crisis was actually being resolved as there are no key performance indicators for billing accuracy.
JoburgCan urged City Power and the municipality to adjust their revenue collection targets to reflect the realities of Johannesburg, and to not overcommit itself.
“The city continues to budget on inflated collection rates. The achieved rate in the current financial year is 83%.
“The city must adopt an approach that sets spending at current revenue achievable, and balance up for a surplus or in-year increased spending, not balance down at review for missing unrealistic targets,” JoburgCan stated.
‘Energy is the centre of everything’
Should the municipality achieve its revenue revolution, one of the plans would be to meet global transport goals.
“We are also looking at expanding the electricity business into an energy business. We are now investing capital into electric vehicle charging stations because the world is moving into electric vehicles, and we cannot be left behind,” Morero said.
Extra funding would also augment already approved infrastructure upgrades to substations, high-voltage cabling and smart meters, as well as combating theft and vandalism.
City Power reminded solar users to register their systems to ensure compliance, with acting CEO Charles Thouane stressing the desire to invest and partner with sustainable energy initiatives.
“Energy is the centre of everything, of the future. Without energy, there won’t be any growth. We cannot turn a blind eye while problems persist in our schools and hospitals.
“We must stabilise the grid, honour our payment obligations and work together, because Johannesburg cannot fail,” Tlouane stated.
