Cold and in the dark: 8-hour power outage to hit these Joburg areas on Thursday and Friday

As a cold front prepares to hit Gauteng on Friday, Johannesburg residents should also brace themselves for 8-hour power outages.

According to the South African Weather Service (Saws), temperatures in Gauteng may drop to between 10°C and 15°C during the day later this week.

City Power has issued an appeal to Johannesburg residents and businesses to reduce electricity consumption as freezing temperatures sweep across Gauteng, threatening to overwhelm the city’s power infrastructure and trigger widespread outages.

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Nearly 3000 calls logged with City Power

As of Wednesday morning, the utility had approximately 2968 open calls logged across several Service Delivery Centres (SDC) over the last 24 hours.

“Reuven Service Delivery Centre is sitting with 387 open calls, with 272 of those logged in the past 24 hours,” City Power stated.

Lenasia SDC started the day with 168 logged open calls. “122 of those calls have been logged in the last 24 hours.”

The Alexandra SDC sat with 541 open calls on Wednesday morning, with 392 of those logged over 24 hours.

The Inner City SDC is actively addressing 856 open calls, 557 of which have been received in the last 24 hours.

Roodepoort SDC reported that they received 365 open calls, with 200 of those logged within 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Hursthill SDC sat with 435 open calls, “245 of those calls logged over the past 24 hours”.

“We have 33 plants out of service,” City Power said.

The Randburg SDC reported 131 open calls, 61 received in the last 24 hours.

The Midrand SDC currently has 85 open calls, with only 44 being logged in the last 24 hours.

ALSO READ: Weather alert: Intense cold, downpours, light snowfall and fire conditions expected in parts of SA

City Power planned maintenance

City Power’s customers were warned about multiple power outages caused by maintenance upgrades affecting the north, south, and central parts of Johannesburg.

The following areas will experience interruptions between 8am and 4pm on Thursday, 26 June:

• Mulbarton
• Glenvista
• Bassonia
• Glenanda
• Aspen Hills
• Mayfair west
• Amalgam north
• Crown number 1
• Richmond/Vrededorp
• Brixton Homestead Park
• SABC 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

On Friday, 27 June, these three area will experience interruptions between 8am and 4pm:

• Belwin
• Panorama
• Liefde and Vrede south

ALSO READ: City Power explains why it charges some customers more than others

City Power conducts 8-hour maintenance in July

The Houtkoppen Substation is scheduled for maintenance next Thursday 3 July 2025, from 9am to 5pm, affecting Noordhang.

A week later, Thursday 10 July, the following areas will experience interruptions between 8am and 4pm:

• Doornkop
• Doornkop police
• Doornkop military
• SANTA
• BP garage

City Power outage safety warnings and service restoration

City Power has issued safety warnings to all affected customers, advising them to exercise caution even during planned outages.

“As the supply may be restored at any time, customers are urged to always treat their electricity supply points as live.”

While the outages are scheduled to last eight hours in each case, City Power has indicated that power may be restored earlier if maintenance work is completed ahead of schedule.

Customers are advised to prepare for the full duration of the announced interruption periods, but should remain alert for earlier restoration.

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