UPDATE: City of Joburg fixes Melville electricity meter
MELVILLE – City Power commits to repairing vandalised substations and urges residents to join them in the fight against cable theft.
The City of Joburg has reiterated their commitment to combating cable theft and vandalism that happen at substations and electricity meters across the City. An electricty meter in 4th Avenue in Melville has been repaired amid a surge of vandalism after being reported to the City numerous times by Ward 87 councillor Amanda Forsythe.
She said that reporting vandalised substations and electricity meters was a frustrating task, especially when the City took its time to fix the problem. “I am happy that at last the City is tackling the problem of fixing electricity meters and vandalised substations because they pose a danger to residents,” she said.
Forsythe lamented that it did not help that the City replaced broken locks only to have them broken again. “It would be so much better if the City employed technology such as cameras at substations, as presently there are security personnel at certain key substations, but not at all substations,” Forsythe said. She pointed out that the money spent on security personnel could be spent on long-term solutions that would ensure security at all substations and still save the City money.
Spokesperson for City Power Yumna Sheik said that City Power has a response vehicle which patrols high-risk areas based on theft and vandalism of infrastructure statistics. “Vandalism of electricity infrastructure and cable theft are serious offences which compromise the stability of our network and affects service delivery to all our customers. In addition, it puts [residents’] lives at risk. On average, 42 per cent of outages in the City are due to vandalism and cable theft,” said Sheik.
She added that currently City Power patrols hotspot areas to minimise vandalism and theft at substations. However, she pointed out that these efforts were not enough and urged members of the public to contact City Power if they knew of anyone that was vandalising and stealing from substations in their area. “Residents should be on the lookout for suspicious construction vehicles working on our electrical network, whether marked or unmarked, and report them,” she said.
City Power: 011 490 7911/7553/7900.
