City Power confirmed that the recent outage that affected residents on Barkston Drive, Selkirk Avenue and Republic Road was caused by a cable fault on the network.

The prolonged outage disrupted daily life for residents. At a meeting with Ward 102 councillor Bea Campbell–Cloete, many said the uncertainty made the situation even more difficult as they waited for updates on the restoration of electricity. City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said that teams initially responded to the fault, but full restoration took about five to six days.

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“This was mainly due to the high traffic volumes on Barkston Drive, which complicated safe testing and fault location. In addition, the Randburg Service Delivery Centre (SDC) managed a high volume of calls during this period. Our technicians had to work through these reports systematically and methodically to ensure every customer received proper attention and subsequent power restoration,” he said.

Mangena stressed that the entity prioritises both staff and public safety, as well as fairness in handling multiple outages across the area. “The primary challenge which delayed repairs involved repeated cable testing, which did not yield immediate results due to the complexity of the fault and its location on a busy road such as Barkston Drive. Access to the affected cable was limited, and traffic management measures were essential. Our teams adhered to strict safety protocols and extended their efforts to resolve the issue as quickly as possible under these constraints.”

Responding to claims that residents received little to no information, Mangena said City Power issued regular updates through its official social media platforms during the outage. He urged customers to follow the entity on X (@CityPowerJHB), Facebook (City Power Johannesburg), and SDC–focused WhatsApp channels.

“These channels carry customer alerts on outages, progress updates, restoration estimates and important safety information. In this instance, as it was an isolated fault, our team also liaised directly with the ward councillor to provide on–site progress updates.”

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Mangena confirmed that power has been fully restored and that a thorough review was conducted.

“City Power conducts thorough reviews of all outages and their root causes to determine contributing factors such as infrastructure condition, external influences or site–specific issues. In this instance, the cables run through a construction area, which likely contributed to the fault. The outcomes from these investigations strengthen our maintenance programmes and network reliability across the city.”

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