Ongoing and unpredictable power outages affecting key institutions in Ward 81 have sparked concern, with retirement villages, hospitals, and a police station among the facilities impacted.

Ward 81 councillor Joanne Horwitz raised the issue, following repeated electricity disruptions in Kew, Sandringham, Edenvale, and more. According to Horwitz, the outages escalated after City Power removed these sites from the Gresswold substation, which falls under the Kew Service Delivery Centre, and reconnected them to the Westfield substation under the Midrand Service Delivery Centre.

Since the change, affected facilities have experienced more frequent and prolonged power cuts, some lasting several days at a time.

City Power has attributed the outages to ageing and deteriorating feeder cables linked to both the Westfield and Gresswold substations.

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Faults on the network have reportedly become recurrent, with extended restoration times suggesting broader infrastructure failure, rather than isolated technical issues.

Horwitz said the situation poses serious risks, particularly for elderly residents and essential services, such as healthcare facilities and law enforcement.

She has called on City Power to urgently prioritise the stabilisation of the network and to implement a funded, time-bound plan to replace at least one of the compromised feeder cables.

She added that longer-term solutions, including the full replacement of degraded cabling and the introduction of a backup electricity supply, are necessary to prevent ongoing disruptions and improve resilience in the area.

Questions were sent to City Power on January 8 to get their side of the story. They had not replied by time of print, but their reply will be printed once received.

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