20/07/2022
Dear MEDIA STATEMENT
20 July 2022
City Power would like to warn residents against opening our substations and operating on the network as this is dangerous and illegal.
A resident from Crosby near Mayfair in Johannesburg is currently in hospital after a mini substation blew up in his face after he illegally opened the mini substation and tried to operate it to restore electricity.
The area has been without electricity from earlier today after the mini substation tripped on a suspected overload.
A call was logged with City Power, and the team was finishing at one site before they could attend to the tripped mini substation.
In a trail of WhatsApp Group messages from impatient residents, the victim was warned by the Councillor and other residents against trying to operate on the City Power network. It would seem the victim went ahead and tried to operate when the substation blew up.
City Power operates in a highly regulated environment which prohibits unauthorised individuals from working on the electricity network.
No resident is allowed to operate on the City Power network as this is not only illegal but dangerous, as is the case with the incident in Crosby.
We have a serious problem of vandalism of our infrastructure to an extent where residents illegally operate our network, often with the help of unqualified electricians, and connect themselves to the network or make illegal connections into the informal settlements.
The area of Crosby is one of those with this problem where people in formalised houses illegally connect themselves, bypass meters, and illegal connections to Slovo informal settlement.
This mini substation which blew up is brand new after we installed it a few weeks ago, and even our MMC Michael Sun visited the team working to connect it.
We have, as City Power decided to report a case of vandalism and malicious damage to property against the victim as they were not supposed to go inside the substation yard and operate our infrastructure.
After the legal processes have been completed, City Power will switch on Power to the affected community this afternoon.
We apologise for the inconvenience caused by this and wish the victim a speedy recovery.
ENDS
Issued by City Power
Isaac Mangena, Spokesperson