Residents across parts of Ashley Gardens, Alphen Park and surrounding areas in Pretoria East say they are growing increasingly frustrated over ongoing electricity outages that have left some homes without power for days.

The outages, which residents say have persisted intermittently since late April, have disrupted daily life, damaged household routines, and placed financial strain on both tenants and property owners.

Resident Sonja Coetzer said some properties that she leases have been without electricity despite repeated fault reports and escalations to metro officials and councillors.

“They’ve been without power from Sunday the previous week [April 26] and although it’s been escalated and escalated and escalated, the case was closed and it was never attended to,” said Coetzer.

She said tenants were informed over the weekend that the outage had been placed on a priority list, but no repair teams had arrived.

Coetzer, who rents out property in the affected area, said the ongoing outages have now resulted in financial losses.

“My rental income is gone that I received from there. The owner is no longer getting his rental income. I’m going to give them back all their money they paid in advance and I’m not charging them early cancellation because how can I?” she said.

“They can’t live there without electricity and I cannot advertise it to get a new tenant with the circumstances of no power there. It’s just a dreadful situation.”

Another resident, Carmen Minnaar, said her home had been without electricity since Wednesday [April 6] morning after briefly being restored following another week-long outage in April.

“The power has been out since Wednesday morning. It was on for a few days after being out for the last week in April,” said Minnaar.

“I report the issue to metro every day, but the problem isn’t fixed. There are three houses on Bending Lane without power, while everyone else has it.”

Minnaar said the outages are placing enormous pressure on families, especially those with children.

“We have no warm water, and our generator is broken. I have two kids, and it gets dark in the house by five. They go to friends’ houses to charge lights for schoolwork,” she said.

“We’re wasting time trying to find places to do what we need. I have to buy food daily because I threw out everything in the fridge. It’s very frustrating.”

Resident Jana van der Westhuizen said her household has experienced repeated outages since April 25.

“The electricity went out on April 25 for seven days. It came back for three days, then went out again due to an accident. Now, we are on day seven without power,” she said.

Van der Westhuizen claimed she had reported the issue more than six times.

“Each time I call, they say it’s the first report. They claim to escalate it, but nothing happens,” she said.

She added that residents were issued with old reference numbers after another outage affected the broader area.

“My kids are studying for exams without light. We lost a lot of meat in the fridge. Some neighbours took their food to friends. We have hot water thanks to gas, but others don’t. It’s terrible.”

Ward 82 councillor Siobhan Muller also expressed frustration over the lack of feedback and service delivery from the metro.

In a message circulated to residents, Muller said multiple single outages were affecting the ward in addition to faults linked to the Lynnwood Substation.

“Unfortunately the city has dropped the ball once again. No feedback. No power,” she said.

Muller added that she had contacted senior city officials, including the Group Head of Power and the Chief Operating Officer, regarding the ongoing electricity failures in Region 3.

According to updates shared on the metro’s WhatsApp outage channel, several electricity faults in Pretoria East remain unresolved.

One update relating to Ashley Gardens and Bending Lane listed the cause as ‘broken overhead lines’ with the progress status marked ‘to attend’.

Another outage in Parktown Estate was reportedly linked to stolen overhead lines, while an outage in Alphen Park remained under investigation.

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