City Power officials met directly with residents from wards 98, 99, 102 and 104 to address ongoing electricity challenges and outline planned infrastructure upgrades.

The 10th electricity imbizo, held at Ferndale Recreation Centre in Region B, provided an important platform for residents to engage directly with the entity’s leadership, raise service delivery concerns and seek clarity on electricity-related challenges affecting their respective areas.

City Power acting CEO Charles Tlouane explained that the imbizo programme provides an important platform for the organisation to engage directly with customers, listen to their concerns and understand the electricity challenges affecting their communities. “We are engaging to try and understand, but also act on issues that are there. For these wards, we want to indicate the progress that we have made, but also allow residents to address some of the challenges that they are facing,” said Tlouane.

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Residents took the opportunity to voice their frustrations, highlight ongoing issues and present concerns that require urgent attention. The engagement allowed community members to interact openly with City Power’s top officials, who listened to the concerns raised and provided feedback, explanations and updates on issues brought forward.

Importantly, the engagement went beyond discussions, with City Power officials making commitments to attend to outstanding issues and work towards resolving other challenges identified in the various areas.

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Tlouane confirmed that the entity is still heavily struggling with ageing infrastructure, theft and vandalism. “On the ageing infrastructure, we are going to start in some areas where we know that this cable will be dependent for quite some time. The current infrastructure is still at copper, and that’s why we are having challenges. We will be replacing that infrastructure,” he said.

He added that they will be deploying some equipment in terms of the power transformers. “We will be deploying that equipment so that we then have a form of stability. We will be replacing some of these distribution transformers, the power transformers and some of the equipment units,” Tlouane added.

The imbizo reaffirmed the importance of collaboration between City Power and the communities it serves, recognising that meaningful engagement and open communication are essential in addressing service delivery challenges.

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