City Power says it has taken the difficult decision to withdraw all technical restoration and maintenance services in Tshepisong in the west of Johannesburg as of Friday.
This is due to continued acts of sabotage, widespread illegal electricity connections and the repeated unlawful reconnection of infrastructure that has not yet been commissioned, the power utility said.
According to spokesperson Isaac Mangena, 97% of residents don’t pay for electricity, and City Power’s decision follows repeated incidents where community members have illegally reconnected newly installed pole-mounted transformers and thrown wires onto electricity lines to deliberately trip the network.
Mangena said this places lives at risk, damages critical infrastructure and undermines efforts to restore a safe and sustainable electricity supply.
“The withdrawal of services will remain in place until there is a clear commitment from the community to comply with the agreed normalisation process and to allow City Power to complete the work without interference.
“Normalisation is City Power’s structured intervention to restore electricity supply in areas where the network has been severely compromised by illegal connections, meter tampering, overloaded transformers and unsafe electrical installations.”
According to Mangena, Tshepisong is one of the most challenging areas on City Power’s network. The area has more than 12,000 electricity customers but electricity vending remains critically low, he said.
“About 97% of customers are not purchasing electricity legally, while only about 3% are vending. Those purchasing electricity largely comprise businesses, including Pick n Pay, BP Garage, Chesa Nyama, Moses Supermarket and Butchery, chicken farms and bulk egg suppliers.
“This level of compliance is far below what is required to sustain the electricity network. City Power has invested millions over several years to improve electricity supply in Tshepisong.”
Mangena said 20 new pole-mounted transformers were installed at an estimated cost of about R400,000 each. Despite this investment, he said, illegal connections, meter bypassing, cable tampering and network overloading continue to destroy infrastructure and reverse the progress made.
He said the power utility has adopted an 80% vending compliance threshold before newly normalised infrastructure will be energised.
“This requirement is intended to protect public investment, ensure electricity consumption is sustainable and reduce the risk of immediate transformer failures after restoration.
“Experience has shown that where communities do not purchase electricity consistently, illegal connections quickly return, transformers become overloaded, and entire areas experience repeated outages.
“City Power remains committed to restoring a safe, reliable and sustainable electricity supply to Tshepisong. However, lasting electricity stability can only be achieved through a partnership between City Power and the community, founded on lawful electricity usage, payment for electricity consumed and the protection of critical public infrastructure.”
Sowetan
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