Unplanned power cuts frustrate residents

These phases power different sections such as pools and appliances within the houses.

Ward 104 councillor Michael Wood said the situation has been an ongoing one for several months, with no plausible explanation, and has increased dramatically in the past month.

“Residents have experienced increased power cuts for at least three weeks, with one house going without power, at one stage, for five days in the past month,” he said.

Wood added that City Power contractors have been prompt in dealing with power cuts but despite intervention, the problem keeps persisting and no answers or solutions were given for the problem.

Wood explained that although power has been fully restored to these houses at this stage, until a permanent solution is found, the situation will keep reoccurring.

Speculation on the causes of the problem ranged from the recent installation of smart meters to shoddy work by City Power technicians.

City Power spokesperson, Sydney Mphahlele, confirmed that the entity was alerted of the outages in March, but dismissed the notion that smart meters or shoddy work caused the outages.

“City Power appoints its contractors based on knowledge… and experience and we do not agree that the problem was caused by shoddy work. Furthermore, with more than 60 000 smart meters having been installed across the city with very little faults, the issue cannot be attributed to the installation either,” he said.

“On both occasions when the technicians were sent out, it was discovered that [a] cable fault was the cause of the power outages.”

Mphahlele added that the cable fault had been attended to and power effectively restored to the houses and urged other residents to contact the city’s call centre on 0860 562 874 to log a call in the event of an unplanned power outage.

How have you been affected by unplanned power cuts? Let Sandton Chronicle know in the comments below.