Chantelle Benjamin

Johannesburg Metro Editor

THE number of blackouts in the City of Johannesburg is higher this year than last year, contrary to the city’s claims that the frequency has fallen.

Earlier this month, Brian Hlongwa, mayoral committee member for municipal service entities, claimed that the utility was seeing fewer power failures and had in fact seen a 37% drop over winter, as a result of its upgrade programme.

But City Power statistics released in March for 2003-04 to end-June show the city endured 160 high-voltage and 950 medium-voltage outages.

City Power data released last month covering network performance for 2004-05 registered 144 high-voltage and 1340 medium-voltage outages in 2004-05.

While the utility came out under high-voltage targets, it overshot its medium-voltage targets in the past financial year, and the total number of power cuts is higher.

City Power refused to discuss the apparent increase in power outages for the last financial year, saying it would be meeting with the National Energy Regulator (NER) on October 7 to discuss its negative report.

"We have been asked by Parliament to engage directly with the National Energy Regulator," Silas Zimu, a vice-president of operations at City Power, said.

At a press briefing early this month after two big power failures in the city, Hlongwa said: "Power outages have dropped significantly. It is this total commitment to service delivery and a spirit of determination that has resulted in customers experiencing fewer power cuts this winter — 37% in fact, compared to last year’s winter, that is in May, June and July.

"The city has invested R675m in electrical infrastructure for 2005-06, as opposed to the proposed R400m."

Organisations and political parties have made repeated calls for the resignation of Hlongwa and the utility’s CE, Mogwailane Mohlala, because of alleged poor performance. Hlongwa promised to resign if the utility did not reach its target by 2008.

Mike Moriarty, Johannesburg Democratic Alliance leader, recently called on city mayor Amos Masondo to fire them or "carry the can" for his appointments after a report by the NER said current levels of operations at City Power would lead to further blackouts and fires.

Speaking in Parliament recently, NER CEO Smunda Mokoena attributed the high power outages to a lack of maintenance and refurbishment, the property boom and not enough money for expansion of infrastructure.

The utility has seen increasing claims from businesses for loss of income as a result of power cuts, in particular during the three-day blackout caused by the fire at the Hursthill substation in November last year, which affected 18 suburbs in western Johannesburg.