Johannesburg – Joburg mayor Mpho Moerane is forging a solution to an age-old electricity problem.
The City is proceeding with plans to take over the electricity supply from Eskom in certain areas.
Moerane said the taking over of City Power from Eskom was purely because the City has already proven that it understands the local customer in how they deliver municipal services and are paid for them.
“The takeover will also see to the introduction of an alternative energy mix that includes smart meters, solar and gas,” Moerane said.
Some Soweto residents have not paid for electricity since 1990, with the city incurring the debt.
Moerane has hit the ground running in correcting the city’s electricity backlog and encouraging residents to pay their electricity bills. The city’s co-ordinated relief programme will subsidise poor households but make sure affording households pay for electricity.
Moerane said Joburg is currently looking at a long-term solution to the concerns of lack of sufficient capacity by Eskom to service residents in Ivory Park, Diepsloot, Orange Farm, Finetown, as well as Sandton and Soweto.
Over the weekend Moerane was in Ivory Park, Midrand, after complaints of up to 40 Eskom transformers currently damaged and left unrepaired for five months in the stricken area.
“The complaints expressed by residents relate to Eskom’s failure to respond to residents’ customer service queries and not attending to reports of either vandalised or damaged transformers as a result of overloading also attributed to illegal connections in the area,” Moerane added.
The residents likened their woes to those of Soweto residents who have complained about the affordability of the R6 000 reconnection fee that was demanded by Eskom from them.
“They indicated that this was while they were being ignored by Eskom and only given attention when they march to its head office in Megawatt Park,” said a City of Joburg statement.
The Soweto electricity bill alone has been a matter of contention between the residents and Eskom.
The city recently signed a new power purchase agreement with the privately-owned Kelvin power station to increase electricity supply capacity in the metropolitan.
“The challenges of prolonged electricity outrages in Eskom serviced areas that include Soweto, Ivory Park, Orange Farm, Finetown, as well as Diepsloot and Sandton, made it urgent for the City to enter into the new agreement with Kelvin,” the mayor said.
Gauteng Premier David Makhura has described the signing of the Kelvin agreement as a significant milestone that will see an additional 12% electricity supplied to Joburg.
"We have lost two mayors whom I had discussions with about the power issue in Johannesburg, and I now expect you, mayor Moerane, to continue to fix power problems in the city,” Makhura said.
The Star