A resident in Cocoa Close is speaking out after he and neighbouring households in Block 11 have been left frustrated by repeated and unstable electricity outages, where power is restored briefly before tripping again within minutes or hours.

Zahin Anandlal explained that the area experienced multiple interruptions in a single day, followed by a prolonged outage period and ongoing instability that has continued for weeks since the days leading up to the Easter weekend.

He said the most severe disruption began on April 08.

“The power went off at 15:40 and was restored at 17:15 for about five minutes and tripped again,” he said.

“The supply was restored at 20:00 but lasted only two minutes before tripping, followed by another brief restoration before 21:00 and a final outage at around 02:00,” Zahin said.

He added that after these repeated trips, the area remained without electricity for about 40 hours before the supply was restored. Since then, he says, outages continue intermittently, now stretching into the third week.

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According to Anandlal, the instability started after work was done on a four-way distributor at Boothill Switching Station, after which the electricity supply became inconsistent.

He further mentioned that the area is currently fed through Boothill Switching Station, which is linked to Christiaan de Wet Station, and believes ongoing backfeeding operations (when electricity flows the wrong way through power lines) may be contributing to system instability.

Anandlal said he has struggled to get assistance from the Region C officials, like the general manager of the Roodepoort Service Delivery Centre, Sibusiso Xulu and City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena, despite multiple attempts to escalate the issue. He added that the only responses he receives are that the matter is being escalated.

In response, Mangena said the outages are linked to multiple cable faults, vandalism and controlled operational switching used to maintain supply during repairs.

“Cocoa Close, Harveston and surrounding areas in Block 11 are primarily configured to be supplied from the Christiaan de Wet Substation under normal operating conditions,” he said.

According to Mangena, temporary backfeeding from Boothill was introduced as a controlled measure due to ongoing faults in the network in the weeks leading up to the Easter period, after multiple cable faults affected key parts of the Boothill network.

He explained that repeated tripping is caused by network strain under fault conditions, where alternative feeders are forced to carry loads they were not originally designed for. Mangena also explained that the four-way distributor at Boothill forms part of a broader investigation but is not the sole cause of the outages.

Mangena said City Power is currently isolating faults, restoring affected feeders and gradually reducing reliance on backfeeding while repairs continue to restore a stable supply.

Mangena added that long-term interventions, including upgrading infrastructure, replacing copper cables with aluminium and increasing security in high-risk areas, are being implemented to reduce theft, vandalism and repeated faults. For now, Anandlal is calling for the area to be restored to its original supply configuration.

“All I would like is to be put back to where I should be fed from,” he said.