City Power urges residents to use electricity sparingly as we enter ‘critical period’

City Power has called on residents to continue using electricity sparingly.

This is as the city enters a “critical” period, during which the demand for electricity is expected to increase as South Africans return to working full weeks.

April had several public holidays, which spilt into May, with only three working days in the last week.

There are no public holidays in May, while there is only one in June, and that is when the winter season starts.

ALSO READ: City Power removes R450k worth of illegal cables in Alexandra amid backroom surge

“We wish to remind customers that the network remains under severe pressure, and any increase in consumption could lead to overloading and, subsequently, further outages,” said City Power on Sunday.

It has called on all residents and businesses to take the following measures to reduce demand:

• Switch off all non-essential appliances
• Avoid using high-consumption equipment like geysers, pool pumps and heaters during peak hours (6am–9am and 5pm–9pm)
• Unplug devices not in use

“Your cooperation is vital to sustaining the power supply and preventing further disruptions. Thanks to earlier responsible usage by customers, we’ve managed to keep the network stable through backfeeding and interconnectors. But with demand expected to surge this week, restraint remains essential.”

City Power on Braamfontein outage

City Power teams are installing 11kv cables from Bree to Braamfontein Substation to augment back-feeding capacity and manage an increasing demand anticipated later Sunday and at the start of the week.

“The teams are now busy connecting the remaining two joints. This added capacity will also ensure that we can fully restore supply to Wits University, which is currently receiving 50% of its supply. This work is scheduled for completion by 6pm on Sunday.”

ALSO READ: City Power will not pay to replace this cable if stolen by thieves

On Thursday, the 88kv circuit along the Double Decker route in Braamfontein tripped, resulting in a major outage affecting several areas, including Braamfontein, Parktown West, Newtown junction, De Korte North and Smith West.

Preliminary investigations indicated that another incident of suspected cable theft and vandalism may have caused the fire. City Power says this is a growing trend linked to the criminal activities of zama-zamas operating in the Inner City underground tunnels.

“These groups, often violent and heavily armed, continue to pose a serious threat to critical power infrastructure and the safety of our personnel,” said City Power on Thursday.

On Sunday, it said the process of clearing debris from the underground tunnels was progressing well.

ALSO READ: City Power halts services in Vezinyawo in Alexandra

“The work of installing new 200-metre-long 88kv cables will commence as soon as we receive a structural report from the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA),” said City Power.

The power utility is working closely with law enforcement to investigate and prevent further incidents, with heightened security measures now in place.