Residents of Coetzee Avenue, who have been without electricity since January 22, are furious at City Power’s (CP) apparent failure to properly communicate with them.

“Not having electricity is extremely frustrating,” says resident Trish Potgieter. “But not knowing what is going on is almost worse.”

According to Potgieter, residents immediately followed the correct reporting protocols when the electricity went out. “We all reported and we all received reference numbers, but then it simply went quiet from the entity’s side.

“Every time we call to try and get an update, we are told by a very disinterested person on the other end of the line that the matter ‘will be escalated’.

“That does not mean anything to me. Why can’t they just communicate with us?”

Potgieter adds that they were eventually alerted by a CP contractor that the outage was due to a vandalised transformer, but that they were still no closer to being given a timeline for the repair work.

• Also read: Power outage hits parts of Constantia Kloof

According to CP spokesperson Isaac Mangena, outage was communicated through the entity’s various social media platforms including the councillor WhatsApp groups, customer care platforms, and X.

“We fully recognise that the extended loss of supply has placed an unacceptable burden on affected residents,” he says.

“The loss of power supply was first reported on January 22, when a resource was sent out to investigate the low voltage (LV) problem. The first complaint is, per standard procedure, treated as a LV problem.

“After LV repairs failed to resolve the problem, the test branch was requested to locate the fault, but when this failed, the problem was traced to the Timber Street Switching Station, which feeds the Coetzee TSS (Transformer Substation), where it was found that an indoor transformer had been vandalised.

“The restoration process will commence once a vending audit is completed to determine the electricity consumption in that area. The audit is necessary to establish whether more than 80% of customers are legally purchasing electricity, as illegal connections, vandalism and electricity theft have a significant impact on the revenue we depend on to render and sustain services. These factors directly affect infrastructure stability and the feasibility of long-term repairs.

“Our team has been on site since January 29 to start the vending audit. Once the vending audit is completed, CP will be in a position to finalise the scope of repairs and provide a clearer timeline for restoration.”

As of Monday, February 2, residents confirmed that electricity was still not reinstated.