Weltevreden Park residents raised electricity-related concerns directly with City Power representatives when the utility brought its mobile office to Weltevreden Park Square on August 25.

The activation formed part of City Power’s Ward-by-Ward Service Delivery Programme, which the utility said is intended to bring its services closer to customers and address electricity service delivery challenges in different wards.

Officials from public lighting, metering, network performance, operations, billing and customer services were available at the mobile office to assist residents with their queries. “The programme allows our different departments to consider the full picture in each ward, rather than dealing with individual complaints separately,” said City Power’s spokesperson Isaac Mangena.

Direct community engagement on service issues, billing, technical, streetlight and account queries could be raised at the mobile office. According to Mangena, matters that could not be resolved on site were recorded and allocated for follow-up.

Wim Bouwer, the chairperson of the Welridge Residents Association, brought several outstanding streetlight queries to the attention of City Power’s public lighting team. Bouwer expressed appreciation for the support received from officials on the ground and said he was hopeful that some of the matters would be resolved during the activation.

City Power said the programme involves moving key departments from their usual office environments into communities as a single unit. The utility said this enables officials to engage directly with customers and identify their concerns.

“Customers remain at the heart of the programme,” said City Power’s acting COO Anza Mudau.

Outages and technical follow-ups addressed

One resident raised concerns about a local power outage with officials during the activation, and City Power informed the customer that the interruption was linked to a wider outage originating from the Panorama Switching Station and Cornelius Main Substation.

According to the utility, City Power teams were on site and had completed repairs, with the restoration process due to continue shortly. The customer was also advised to use City Power’s website and Call Centre for updates.

Ward 126 councillor David Brand visited the mobile office and encouraged residents to make use of the services available. The utility said several residents logged queries during the activation, with some matters resolved on site while issues requiring further technical work were recorded and allocated for follow-up.

The general manager at the Roodepoort Service Delivery Centre (SDC), Sibusiso Xulu, thanked residents who visited the mobile office and encouraged customers to continue using the SDC for face-to-face support.

According to City Power, the service delivery programme is an ongoing weekly initiative that will move through its areas of supply in the coming weeks, and customers should look out for announcements about future activations.