City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena. Photo: Sipho Siso

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Frustrated by ongoing illegal power connections and the vandalization of its
infrastructure, City Power has resolved to up the ante of engagement with its
residents in a bid to curb the rising power problems.

The City of Johannesburg’s power entity has announced the launch of imbizos
across the length and breadth of the city which will be a series of community
engagements with residents designed to discuss power matters such as the ongoing
illegal connections, the vandalization of infrastructure, the winter power strategy and
other service delivery matters.

The imbizos, which began in April, will run until June as part of the entity’s proactive
stakeholder engagements efforts and the latest will be a business community
engagement on May 14 for Region A in Midrand whose venue and time is still to be
notified.

A statement from City Power said the Customer Imbizo has been designed to create
a platform of direct engagement with the community, businesses and other
stakeholders such as government customers spread across the city, which includes
all formal and informal areas.

Toping the agenda will be City Power’s Winter Strategy as winter finally settles in and
what the challenges are likely to be and the way to improve power delivery while at
the same time asking residents not to over strain the power utility system by
overloading it.

The statement said the engagements will also serve to reinforce the utility’s
partnerships with communities, while educating customers on responsible electricity
use, payment compliance, and safety. All departments from City Power will be
available to respond to various customer queries that may arise during engagement
sessions.

At the heart of the Winter Strategy will be the commitment to ensure network stability
and readiness to withstand added pressure linked to colder temperatures, the
statement said.

City Power urged customers to take advantage of these engagements and attend in
their numbers to take advantage of engaging with officials of the power utility to raise
their concerns and other service delivery matters.

Region C, which is the Roodepoort area, will hold its imbizo on May 15, and Region
B in Randburg on May 19 and 29. Times and venues for all the meeting will be
notified.