Brace for Blackouts: City Power Schedules 8-Hour Outages Across Johannesburg This Week

Residents urged to prepare for daytime power cuts as infrastructure repairs roll out in four major regions

Johannesburg residents, already well-versed in the rhythms of load shedding and power instability, are bracing for yet another round of interruptions—this time, not due to Eskom’s generation woes, but planned maintenance by the city’s own electricity distributor, City Power.

Starting this week, four major Johannesburg regions will undergo eight-hour daily blackouts, with outages beginning on Tuesday, 17 June and continuing through Wednesday, 18 June 2025. The disruptions, according to City Power, are necessary to conduct “essential maintenance” on aging infrastructure.

But for residents and small businesses, the timing couldn’t be worse.

Where and When Will the Power Go Out?

Tuesday, 17 June kicks off the week of interruptions with Region A, where Randespark Extension 37 will go dark from 9 am to 5 pm. Maintenance work at the local switching station will leave stretches of 15th and 16th Road without power for the bulk of the workday.

Wednesday, 18 June, however, will see a far wider impact across the city:

Region F: Inner-city CBD Hit the Hardest

The long-postponed maintenance at the Fort Substation, originally scheduled for 10 June, will now take place Wednesday, affecting core parts of the Johannesburg CBD from 9 am to 5 pm.
Affected streets include:

• Wanderers Street

• Smit Street

• Hospital Street

• Sutherland Avenue

• Wolmarans Street

For workers, street vendors, and small traders in the city centre, the blackout may mean a full day of lost income.

Region B: Northern Suburbs Disrupted

Up north, suburbs like Northworld, Sharonlea, and Golden Harvest will be impacted by maintenance at the Olivedale Substation. Residents in these areas can expect the full eight-hour blackout on Wednesday, affecting multiple streets such as:

• Mapel Drive

• Fountain Street

• Third Avenue

• Beesvyvie Street

• Paul Street

• LA Provence

These suburbs are home to a mix of residential and light commercial properties, and residents have already taken to community WhatsApp groups and social media to warn neighbours about possible traffic disruptions and security concerns during the outage.

Region A Again: Waterfall Business Park and Surrounds

A second planned outage in Region A will affect Jandel Road and the Waterfall Business Park, one of Johannesburg’s fastest-growing commercial nodes. The outage will also run from 9 am to 5 pm.

Why Now?

City Power has framed the outages as part of a longer-term network improvement initiative, aimed at preventing unplanned outages later.

“This interruption is necessary to do essential maintenance work on our network,” City Power said in all regional announcements. “It is part of our programme of constantly striving to provide a better service.”

Still, residents have mixed feelings.

On local Facebook groups and Twitter/X threads, some have praised the advance notice and City Power’s transparency, while others raised concerns about daytime crime risks, damaged appliances, and the financial toll on home-based businesses.

What You Should Know (and Do)

• Treat all plugs and points as live. City Power warns that supply can be restored at any moment, so never assume the power is completely off.

• Backup plans are essential. Those with medical equipment, frozen goods, or pets at home are urged to plan for the full 8-hour duration, even if power is restored early.

• Watch out for restoration alerts. In some cases, work may finish ahead of time, and electricity might return sooner than scheduled.

The Bigger Picture

Johannesburg’s residents are no strangers to outages, but planned blackouts during business hours feel like salt in the wound for many, especially after a winter season already marred by erratic power supply and tariff hikes.

Still, City Power insists these repairs are necessary to modernise the city’s infrastructure and avoid more disruptive breakdowns in future. Whether that promise holds will likely depend on how smoothly this week’s outages are handled and whether residents see any tangible improvement afterward.

For now, Joburg’s ever-resourceful residents are dusting off generators, boiling extra water, and preparing for another week of life on pause.

{Source: The Citizen}

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