These Joburg areas face 8-hour outages this week

Several Johannesburg suburbs will lose electricity between Monday and Thursday this week while City Power carries out planned maintenance.

According to general manager Isaac Mangena, outages will run from 8am or 9am until 4pm or 5pm on each affected day.

Which areas will lose power this week

Monday’s work is already scheduled for 9am to 5pm at the Fontainebleau Switching Station in the Randburg service delivery centre.

President Ridge, Ferndale, and the Ferndale on Republic mall will be affected.

“City Power would like to notify affected customers of essential maintenance work scheduled to take place this week,” Mangena stated.

On Tuesday, power will go off from 9am to 5pm in two places.

The Ethor Johnson Switching Station will affect Johnson and Johnson Medical Road and Randjespark.

The Rosebank Substation will affect Ashford Road, Cradock Avenue, 4th Avenue, Bath Avenue, and Bolton Road.

Wednesday’s outages will run from 8am to 4pm in the Lenasia area.

The Nancefield Substation will affect Slovo Park, Klipspruit West, Bushkoppies Estate, and several Eldorado Park extensions.

The Goldev Switching Station will cover Freedom Park, Siyaya, Galaxy Avenue, Neptune Road, Telescope Road and Process Road.

Thursday will bring the largest outage.

The Westfield Substation will cut power from 9am to 5pm to Greenstone Hill and its extensions, Blackrock, Thornhill Valley, Founders Hill and the Greenstone shopping centres, among other areas.

Kibler Park will also lose power from 8am to 4pm because of work at the Eikenhof Substation.

“The planned interruption forms part of the utility’s ongoing programme to strengthen, maintain and improve the reliability and stability of the electricity network,” Mangena explained.

Why the maintenance is necessary

City Power said the work will keep older equipment in working order and lower the chance of sudden breakdowns.

Crews will also look for faulty parts that need replacing.

“Planned maintenance is critical in ensuring that ageing infrastructure is serviced, faulty equipment is identified and replaced, and the risk of unplanned outages is reduced,” City Power noted.

The utility said the work also prepares the grid for periods of higher electricity demand.

Cold weather in winter is one example.

“These activities also help protect the network during periods of increased demand, particularly during the winter season when colder weather places additional pressure on electricity infrastructure,” the utility added.

How to stay safe during the power cuts

City Power urged residents to be careful while work is underway.

It said supply could return sooner than the times listed.

“Customers are advised to treat all electrical supply points as live at all times during the interruption period, as power supply may be restored earlier than anticipated,” City Power warned.

Residents should also protect their devices.

A sudden return of power can damage appliances that are still plugged in.

“Customers are also encouraged to unplug appliances during the outage to avoid possible damage when electricity supply is restored,” the utility advised.