7 reference numbers not enough to see City Power attend to a fault in Blairgowrie
A family without power for six days even went to the entity's offices and waited inside for a testing team to be dispatched to their home.
It took hours on the phone, countless emails and seven reference numbers, but a Blairgowrie family finally have their electricity woes resolved – well sort of.
Stanley and Shelley Ann Sardinha of Geneva Road logged calls with City Power every day, and at one point even went to their offices and waited in the building until action was taken.
This is because most tickets they logged on phone or email were closed the same evening without any assistance, and the times that there was action it was never completed.
In fact it was over two weeks later – and after Randburg Sun took the matter to the power utility’s media liaisons – that the issue was finally dealt with.
The matter involved a faulty cable that left the couple and their daughter without electricity for about six days.
Shelley Ann, who works from home, had to take a step back from work so a colleague could take over, and the family reached out to a generous community that recharged their UPS, alarm system and gate motor batteries while even going as far as offering them the use of their showers.
City Power teams came, did not have the right equipment, and left the premises promising to come back, on one occasion. They never returned and that was when the couple when to City Power’s office on Hans Schoeman Street.
Eventually the cable was fixed but the hole the team had dug to get to it, was left, and again the ticket was closed.
The couple stopped trying City Power and instead contacted Randburg Sun who enquired with the utility’s spokesperson Isaac Mangena.
When Mangena’s communications group was informed work was still to be done, they ensured a team was sent out the same day to cover the hole though the bricks could not be repaved by them.
“That is okay,” said Stanley who resigned to sort the repaving out himself.
“But what was frustrating was that they kept closing our tickets for no reason, without anything being done. We had to go to the offices for help. It is just very frustrating.”
Mangena said City Power apologised profusely for the inconvenience caused.
“It is important to note that heavy rains have significantly slowed our normal response and restoration times, but City Power is working around the clock to minimise extended outages,” he said.
Ward 99 councillor Nicole van Dyk urged residents to email her with brief histories of their issues if they lived in her ward and have not received help from the municipality regarding reported issues.
Details: Ward 99 councillor Nicole van Dyk ward99jozi@gmail.com
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