CITY POWER, ALEXANDRA RESIDENTS URGED TO WORK TOGETHER TO BUILD A SUSTAINABLE ELECTRICITY NETWORK  

The Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, Cllr Dada Morero, has called for a stronger partnership between City Power and communities to address the persistent electricity challenges affecting Alexandra, with the Executive Mayor emphasising that reliable electricity supply can only be achieved through shared responsibility. 

 Speaking at the inaugural City Power Electricity Imbizo held in Alexandra on Tuesday, 18 August 2026, the Executive Mayor said the City’s priority is to ensure that all residents have access to safer and affordable electricity, while urging customers to purchase electricity legally and consistently. 

 Speaking after the residents raised heated issues including regular trips of the network, overloading, illegal connections, and expensive electricity, the Executive Mayor said the City could not introduce a blanket or flat electricity rate for Alexandra because households have different consumption patterns and needs. A single-person household, for example, does not consume electricity in the same way as a larger household or someone running a business.

 The Executive Mayor acknowledged the economic pressures most residents face, and encouraged residents who qualify to register for the City’s Expanded Social Package (ESP). The ESP supports qualifying indigent households with subsidies on basic municipal services, including basic electricity. Eligible customers earning R7,800 or less per month can receive 50kWh and up to 120 kWh of free electricity per month, depending on household size and circumstances. 

They are also exempt from the R70 service charge and R140 network capacity charge, saving R210 per month. The programme prioritises vulnerable households, including pensioners, people with disabilities, unemployed individuals, child-headed households and residents of informal or high-density areas. 

 “I also want residents to understand that not every problem can be resolved immediately. Some matters require repairs and maintenance. Others require infrastructure replacement, upgrades or longer-term interventions. 

What matters is that these issues are identified, properly assessed and followed through City Power,” said the Executive Mayor.

“We must judge our efforts by what residents ultimately experience, which should be fewer interruptions, better network performance, more responsive service, protected infrastructure and a more sustainable electricity system,” the Executive Mayor added. 

 The Executive Mayor said the Alexandra engagement should not be viewed as a once-off intervention, but as part of an ongoing relationship between the City, City Power and communities. 

 “Most importantly, we must ensure that today’s engagement is not the end of the conversation. It must be part of a continuing relationship in which the City and City Power remain present, communities remain engaged, and problems are tracked through to their appropriate interventions,” he said. 

 The Mayor stressed that revenue collection is essential to maintaining and expanding electricity infrastructure. 

A transformer can cost between approximately R400,000 and R1.1 million, depending on its size and specifications, making sustained revenue collection critical to City Power’s ability to repair, replace and invest in infrastructure. City Power currently pays approximately R250 million a month for electricity supplied through the Alexandra network, while approximately R29 million is recorded in electricity revenue from the area, which has not been sustainable.  The Executive Mayor further warned against encroachment on electricity infrastructure, urging residents not to build on top of electricity cables or too close to power lines; something common in Alexandra, as this creates safety risks and makes it difficult for City Power to maintain and repair the network. He said communities have an important role to play in protecting public infrastructure, reporting illegal connections and vandalism, and working with the City to find sustainable solutions to local challenges. 

 The Alexandra Imbizo forms part of City Power’s relaunch of its social compact with customers through a programme of regional solutions-driven engagements led by the CEO and his Executive, and held weekly across the City over the next month. The programme is intended to create a more direct platform for communities to raise concerns, engage with City Power and work together with the organisation to identify practical solutions to local electricity challenges. 

 Alexandra is the first in this series of weekly community engagements, with City Power set to take the conversation to communities across its areas of supply, such as in Lenasia, Roodepoort, and Tshepisong, to name a few. The engagements will provide an opportunity to listen to residents, understand local challenges and identify interventions that can improve service delivery and strengthen the sustainability of the electricity network. 

 Speaking in Alexandra, City Power Acting CEO Mr Charles Tlouane said the Imbizo formed part of the entity’s broader effort to change the way it engages with customers and to move beyond dealing with electricity challenges only through fault reports and technical processes. 

 “We cannot address persistent electricity challenges only through fault tickets, technical reports and internal meetings. We have to come to communities, listen to residents, understand the conditions on the ground and have honest conversations about what is affecting the sustainability of the electricity network,” said Tlouane. 

 Tlouane said City Power’s engagement with Alexandra builds on a Business Customer Engagement held on 2 June 2026, as well as his subsequent visit to the area on 7 August, where the entity met with councillors, Service Delivery Centre (SDC) management and operational teams. 

 These engagements have highlighted the interconnected nature of Alexandra’s electricity challenges, including network overloading, illegal connections, low electricity vending, meter bypassing, damaged infrastructure, cable theft and vandalism. 

 The CEO indicated that City Power has so far invested approximately R595.7 million across various projects in Alexandra between 2003 and 2025. These investments have included Alexandra Normalisation, remote metering, auto-prepaid metering, normalisation programmes across various avenues, streetlighting among other projects. 

 The Acting CEO said the challenge now was to ensure that these investments translate into sustainable improvements in electricity supply and return on investment. 

 “We cannot simply continue investing in infrastructure without addressing the conditions that undermine those investments. Normalisation must be followed by sustained compliance, legal electricity purchases and protection of the network,” he said. 

 City Power’s latest customer information indicates that the Alexandra network serves an estimated population of more than 38,577 consumers, while the customer report records 40,959 customers classified as non-vending and 2,382 actively purchasing electricity. 

 City Power has committed to intensifying metering audits, removing illegal connections and addressing unlawful electricity use, while focusing on areas experiencing recurring outages. 

 The entity has also identified further capital investment required in Alexandra and surrounding supply areas, including refurbishment and replacement of ageing or damaged equipment at Alexandra and Gresswold substations, as well as network normalisation and public-lighting interventions by rolling out high-mast solar lights. 

 However, the Acting CEO stressed that infrastructure investment must be accompanied by a stronger social compact around electricity use. 

 “We want the investments made in Alexandra to deliver lasting value. That requires City Power to do its part through investment, maintenance and improved service delivery, while customers and communities do their part by supporting a legal, compliant and financially sustainable electricity network,” said Tlouane. 

 MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Services, Cllr Jack Sekwaila, said the City fully supports City Power’s efforts to dismantle illegal electricity connections, particularly as organised criminal networks increasingly threaten electricity infrastructure and undermine legitimate electricity supply. 

 Cllr Sekwaila said the country is facing the growing threat of “electricity mafias”; organised networks operating outside the formal system, illegally connecting residents to the electricity network and collecting money from households for access to stolen electricity. 

 “There are two provinces that have been identified, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, where people are operating underground, effectively presenting themselves as a parallel system. They are stealing electricity cables and connecting people illegally, while collecting money from those residents,” Cllr Sekwaila said. 

 Cllr Sekwaila said the City would continue supporting City Power in its efforts to dismantle these illegal networks and restore lawful electricity supply. The City also warned residents against paying individuals, including those from City Power or its contractors, who offer to illegally connect them to the electricity network or promise to manipulate meters or electricity accounts. City Power’s normalisation and compliance operations would continue on a sustained basis, with illegal connections removed and infrastructure protected.  City Power will start with ward-by-ward audits in Alexandra from next week to identify individual ward-based needs and come up with plans to address those.