The City’s Electricity teams are working around the clock, attending to a large number of electricity outages due to weather damage across the metro. Approximately 2 500 electricity fault requests were logged on Monday, 15 July 2024 alone. All emergency repairs as well as prolonged and large area outages are being prioritised. The City urges residents to report their electricity faults by using one City reporting channel to avoid duplicate service request delays as far as possible.

Read more below:

‘Our dedicated teams are attending to a large number of service requests in the metro. We are prioritising all storm related infrastructure damage, large area outages and emergencies electricity faults. The City reminds residents that due to the large number of electricity storm repairs and emergencies, all streetlight related faults will be attended to as soon as staff and resources are available. The City apologises for any inconvenience caused.

‘High power fault call volumes are being experienced and teams have logged approximately 2 500 electricity fault requests on Monday, 15 July 2024. This is in addition to the 4 000 requests received last week at the height of the storm over a 24-hour period. Of these, 3 000 were for Area South. There have been several outages in some areas, most of which have already been restored while work continues in other areas. We thank residents for their patience and for working with us during this challenging time. Residents are urged to report their electricity faults to the City by using our convenient service channels and our new WhatsApp line but please use only one channel to report a fault,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Energy, Alderman Xanthea Limberg.

Remember:

Damaged infrastructure from harsh weather conditions typically takes longer to repair and it is extremely unsafe for City Energy teams to use aerial platforms as a result of the strong winds. In many instances, the accurate times of restoration are regrettably not possible to provide to residents. All emergency repairs as well as prolonged and large area outages are being prioritized, affecting repair turnaround times to smaller faults such as vandalized streetlight repairs. 

Property owners are reminded that it may be necessary for City Electricity staff to access residents’ properties in order to access or repair City electricity infrastructure inside of their boundary walls.  City staff will identify themselves before asking for access. The identification card must display the City logo, the name and surname of the staff member or mandated contractor, and must contain an embedded photo of the staff member or mandated contractor. If unsure, residents are urged to call the City’s Call Centre on 0860 103 089.

Report electricity infrastructure theft and vandalism

The City urges residents to report incidents of electricity infrastructure theft and vandalism. Due to extended storm-related power outages, incidents of cable theft and electricity infrastructure vandalism have been reported. Theft and vandalism undermine the City’s efforts to restore power to all residents timeously.

Report suspicious behaviour to the City’s Public Emergency Communication Centre: 021 480 7700

Switch off, so we can switch you back on

City Energy teams fix faults in areas as soon as possible. But often cannot switch customers back on because the power keeps tripping.

This is because of the large volumes of grid-connected inverters, and other power hungry appliances, coming on all at the same time – totally overloading the system, and causing it to trip.

Please unplug all grid-connected inverters especially.

They automatically connect to the municipal supply.

This causes a surge when the power comes back on.

Then it trips again, and is off.

Switch off to switch back on.

Please disconnect connected inverters (and switch off power hungry equipment such as geysers and heaters) to prevent tripping, so that power can be restored.

The impacted areas include:

· Steenberg

· Lansdowne

· Observatory

· Philippi

· Constantia

· Retreat

· Nyanga

· Manenberg

· Heathfield

· Brackenfell

· Wetton

· Heinz Park

Please note: The City’s area outages list is being updated as information is received from the Electricity teams. If an area is not included, it does not mean teams are not aware of the matter.

Electricity services and damage: (please only log on one channel):

WhatsApp: 060 018 1505

Call Centre: 0860 103 089

SMS: 31220 (Free SMS service doesn't apply)

Email: power@capetown.gov.za

eServices: www.capetown.gov.za/servicerequests

Supplied by: City of Cape Town