Councillor raises concerns over outages as City Power defends restoration strategy
Ward 81 councillor Joanne Horwitz says residents remain frustrated by recurring service issues, while City Power says maintenance and testing interventions are being expanded.
Ward 81 councillor Joanne Horwitz has called for stronger infrastructure planning and improved service delivery, raising concerns over recurring outages and restoration delays experienced by residents.
Horwitz said communities continue to express frustration over repeated service interruptions and questioned whether current repair processes are delivering long-term solutions. Among the concerns raised were outage restoration timelines, recurring electricity faults and whether infrastructure maintenance is keeping pace with demand. Horwitz also questioned whether contractor pressures and budget limitations may be affecting service delivery in some instances.
Read more: City Power says residents can help protect local substations through a formal programme
City Power, however, said operational deployment remains flexible and responsive to conditions across the city. According to the utility, testing teams are allocated based on daily operational requirements and respond to both low-voltage and medium-voltage fault categories. Isaac Mangena, the City Power spokesperson, said restoration times may vary depending on outage volumes and the complexity of network faults, but that resources are continuously reviewed.
To improve reliability, Mangena said specialised testing teams are carrying out cable testing while maintenance programmes and infrastructure audits continue across the network. He acknowledged challenges associated with ageing infrastructure but said that long-term interventions focus on improving resilience and reducing repeat outages.
Also read: Bryanston streetlight outages expose wider challenge for City Power
Mangena also rejected concerns that contractor availability and payment delays have broadly affected service delivery, saying isolated payment issues had not interrupted operations.
Johannesburg Water was approached for comment regarding concerns raised during the interview, but had not responded by the deadline. An update will follow once a response is received.
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