Joburg power backlog doubles to 6 000 as cold snap strains City Power

Johannesburg woke on Wednesday to a surge in reported power outages after City Power’s backlog of calls more than doubled overnight, jumping from about 3 000 to over 6 000 as heavy rain, light snow, strong winds and bitter cold affected parts of Gauteng.

Surge in demand and system pressure

City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the freezing weather has pushed electricity demand beyond the grid’s limits and helped drive the sharp increase in outage reports.

“When we went to sleep last night, we were sitting at just over 3 000 outage calls, but we were waking up this morning with that number having doubled; we were sitting at just over 6 000 outage calls this morning.”

Mangena linked the rise in calls to people seeking ways to warm themselves and carry out household chores as temperatures fell.

“I think it’s because of the demand, the increase in the demand of electricity with this cold snap, basically, the temperatures going down and people looking for ways to basically warm themselves up and ensure that they also do other household chores,” Mangena told eNCA.

Hotspots and recent incidents

The utility said outages at specific sites contributed to the numbers, citing incidents in the Hurst Hill area and a problem at the Delta substation that occurred the previous night and on Monday night.

“We have also seen with the outages that we’ve had to deal with, especially in the Hurst Hill area, going to the outage that happened at Delta substation last night, and not only last night, but on Monday night, which basically just shot those numbers up with customers demanding answers.”

Ageing infrastructure and response

Mangena acknowledged that older equipment has struggled under the increased load and that recovery of supply has been slower than expected, attributing this in part to a lack of investment in improvements and maintenance.

“We are still running old infrastructure within the City of Johannesburg, and the recovery of loads is not as fast as it is supposed to be. This is partly due to a lack of investment in improvement and maintenance,”

He said City Power has called in all available technicians and contractors to stabilise supply, with “all hands on deck – internal teams, operating staff, and contractors – to respond, especially in those hotspots.”

Broader challenge

Asked about contingency planning, Mangena pointed to the recurring pressure the grid faces during extreme weather, describing the current cold snap as a significant strain.

“Each time you have a stormy season, we have problems. Now we’ve been hit by this big cold snap. The pressure on the grid is big time. We can’t keep having this on and off all the time,”

What City Power says it is doing

Despite the strain, Mangena said City Power is intensifying its response and working through the backlog of outage calls.