By Mapaballo Borotho
- Parts of Johannesburg could face a “dark winter” due to aging and overloaded electricity infrastructure.
- City Power says major upgrades will take years, with outages expected to continue, especially during winter.
- Residents in several suburbs are already experiencing frequent power disruptions.
If you live in some parts of Johannesburg, you may face a dark and very cold winter due to the aging electricity infrastructure.
While power outages, load reduction and load shedding have eased for many South Africans, thousands of residents in some areas are still experiencing outages at least twice a week.
This ongoing unreliability is linked to several factors, including aging and overloaded infrastructure beyond substations, illegal connections that strain the system, staff shortages, equipment constraints and maintenance backlogs.
These challenges often result in cascading faults across the network.
City Power, which supplies electricity to most of Johannesburg, has confirmed that major upgrades and cable replacements will only be completed in the coming years.
This means outages are likely to remain frequent, particularly as winter approaches and demand on the system increases.
The utility also noted that full upgrades of some substations cannot proceed due to budget constraints, with only partial or piecemeal interventions currently being implemented.
The provincial government has urged the city to improve maintenance, secure infrastructure, reduce illegal connections and communicate more effectively with residents.
Areas most affected by recurring power outages include Yeoville, Bellevue, Cyrildene, Bruma, Dewetshof, Bez Valley, Kensington, Malvern and surrounding suburbs.
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