City Power has taken its services directly to residents in Ward 104, Bryanston, as part of a new ward-by-ward campaign aimed at bringing electricity services closer to communities.

The initiative, launched in Bryanston on August 19, brings City Power officials, ward councillors, and residents together to identify local challenges, improve communication, and address service delivery issues on the ground.

Acting chief operations officer at City Power Anza Mudau explained that the programme was designed to make it easier for residents to access the utility’s services without having to travel to a traditional service delivery centre. “City Power wanted to come closer to the residents and provide our services in a more centralised manner.

Read more: Councillor raises concerns over outages as City Power defends restoration strategy

“We wanted to re-establish the sole purpose of a service delivery centre, which was to ensure that we provide services end-to-end closer to residents. That is precisely what we are doing here today.”

Mudau pointed out that the one-stop mobile service centre, stationed at Bryan Park Shopping Centre, provided residents with access to officials dealing with public lighting, metering, service delivery, and account-related queries. Residents were able to raise concerns, seek assistance with existing issues, and engage directly with City Power officials.

According to Mudau, Ward 104 was selected for the first rollout based partly on the number of queries and outages experienced in the area, while also highlighting the ward’s strong revenue performance. He added that City Power also wanted to reassure residents that the utility was committed to supporting them and improving their experience.

“We want to safeguard our customers and give them the assurance that we are here for them. We should also make sure that we enhance the experience and get value for savings in terms of the services we are providing to them.”

Also read: City Power says residents can help protect local substations through a formal programme

Ward 104 councillor Emi Koekemoer said the programme was developed after discussions between the ward and City Power about current and potential future challenges, including unmaintained infrastructure, outages, theft, and vandalism.

“We sat down and hashed out all the issues and all of the potential future issues in the ward that could arise and we put together a plan.

“We wanted to bring the entity closer to our residents. That was the conceptualisation behind having a mobile office stationed in a ward where it is nowhere near the closest service delivery centre, where people can come and engage, get to know the entity, see how the entity works, and get their issues resolved.”

She encouraged residents to continue reporting electricity-related problems and following up on logged faults. “The entity can’t know there is a problem if we don’t tell them that there is a problem. That’s why it is so important for us to be an active community that engages, reports, and follows up.”

The councillor also reminded residents that City Power is accountable to them as customers. “At the end of the day, this is your entity, it is your services, you pay rates and taxes, you pay for these services. So, please do engage the entity. They are accountable to you directly as a customer.”

Also read: City Power investigates underground blasts in Hyde Park

As part of the launch, City Power teams also carried out service delivery work along Grosvenor Road, next to Bryan Park Shopping Centre, as well as other locations in the ward.

Teams attended to faulty streetlights in the area, inspecting the infrastructure, and carried out repairs to restore lights that were not working.

The work forms part of the campaign’s focus on proactive maintenance and the removal of infrastructure problems before they become bigger service delivery concerns.

For residents, the streetlight repairs also address an important safety concern, particularly for motorists, pedestrians, and businesses that rely on adequate lighting along roads and public spaces.

Mudau said Ward 104 was only the beginning, with City Power planning to take the ward-by-ward campaign to other parts of Johannesburg.

ollow us on our Whatsapp channel, Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok for the latest updates!