Another R400-million will be spent to upgrade Johannesburg’s electrical infrastructure, a city councillor said on Wednesday.
This is in addition to R500-million already invested in the past two financial years to end the scourge of power cuts, said Brian Hlongwa, a councillor responsible for municipal services.
”In the face of an ageing network, overloading by households [particularly during winter], cable thefts, vandalism and illegal connections, the city has taken bold steps to bring the utility up to speed,” Hlongwa told reporters in Johannesburg.
City Power has failed to meet its target of only 600 power cuts this year, with 670 medium-voltage outages clocked up for the financial year 2004/05.
About 70% of these cuts were related to the deteriorating network infrastructure, said Silas Zimu, the utility’s vice-president of operations.
In response, City Power has compiled a five-year master plan to refurbish the city’s power grid.
As part of the plan, 10 transformers have been ordered to replace some of the 52 transformers identified as high risks.
Many of these transformers are more than 60 years old and were only built to last 30 years.
This is a problem with much of the equipment, which has not received regular maintenance or, where necessary, been refurbished or replaced.
”In general, the overall equipment condition is characterised by old, underdesigned and obsolete infrastructure, which is dangerous,” Zimu said.
Work is also under way to standardise and connect the independent transmission systems — Johannesburg, Randburg, Roodepoort, Sandton and Johannesburg South — that the metro inherited in 2000.
”What we are actually doing here is redesigning the city from scratch. Johannesburg actually only became one city for the first time in 2000,” said Hlongwa.
”At the moment, if there is an outage in Randburg, it can’t be fed by Johannesburg in a crisis, as the systems are incompatible.”
City Power also faces the problem of an increased load on its network as Johannesburg continues to grow.
Eskom and other suppliers, as well as the utility’s customers, also contribute to power cuts.
”We are looking at penalising developers … and having a clear service-level agreement with Eskom,” Hlongwa said, explaining that developers often cut cables or illegally connect electricity.
Hlongwa said the electricity problems affect not only residents, but also business profitability and investor confidence.
This is why the city is serious about fixing power problems.
”I would probably have to do the honourable thing and resign if the plan doesn’t work,” he said.
Hlongwa said the upgrades form part of the city’s 2010 Soccer World Cup preparations.
”Although I think 2010 is too far. We are looking at possible ways of fast-tracking the massive refurbishment programme,” he said.
More than half of the city’s capital expenditure budget — more than R670-million — has been allocated to City Power in the next financial year. — Sapa