Residents in the lower sections of Albertskroon, including 3rd, 4th, and 7th streets, have faced near-daily electricity interruptions since December 2025.
Many outages lasted several hours, and recurred multiple times within a 24-hour period, leaving homes without power during the holiday season and causing frustration among locals.

Ward 86 councillor Chantelle Fourie-Shawe said the issue has a long history, with power interruptions and cable problems reported for years. “There’s always been power outages and cable issues, but it really came to a head last December. Power would come back for a few hours, then trip again and again throughout the entire holiday. People had to throw away food, and some generators even broke. Since December, the problem really escalated.”

Read more: City Power moves to communicate directly with customers, but councillors are unconvinced

The outages were not isolated. Fourie-Shawe explained that voltage fluctuations and overloading are widespread across the ward due to aging infrastructure, illegal connections, and overloaded mini-substations. “The crumbling infrastructure is catching up to us properly now.”

City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena stated that the repeated power outages were caused by a faulty cable. “On December 22, 2025, City Power teams were dispatched to attend to a reported outage affecting
customers in Albertskroon. Investigations conducted by our teams confirmed that the outage was caused by a faulty cable. Due to a lack of materials available at City Power store facilities at the time, temporary repairs were carried out, and power supply was restored to affected customers on the same day.”

Also read: City Power streamlines customer communication to cut escalation delays

Mangena confirmed that a permanent repair was completed on February 3, with power supply having since been fully restored to all affected customers. “At the time of the initial outage, temporary repairs were implemented due to material constraints. During the festive season, City Power prioritised the rapid restoration of electricity to as many customers as possible, amid a significant increase in outages caused by adverse weather conditions across our areas of supply.”

Fourie-Shawe urged residents to continue reporting any outages to City Power and to log reference numbers for follow-up. “Whether it’s illegal connections or other issues, we will keep bringing City Power back until this area has proper, reliable power supply.”

The ongoing electricity problems highlight the broader challenges faced by Johannesburg’s aging power infrastructure and the impact of illegal connections on network reliability.

Follow us on our Whatsapp channel, Facebook, X, Instagram, and TikTok for the latest updates and inspiration!