The National Electricity Regulator (NER) has dismissed claims that it published an inaccurate report saying Johannesburg’s City Power was in a serious state of disrepair.
It was reported on Monday that the City of Johannesburg and its electricity utility, City Power, are set to forward a formal complaint to the NER over the damning report.
City Power deputy president Silus Zimu said the NER report, released last week, contained inaccurate information.
He said that both the utility and the regulator had agreed the inaccuracies would be removed before the report was released.
But NER spokesperson Nhlanhla Cebekhulu said the NER has done nothing untoward.
He said the report was done independently.
”City Power was given the chance to respond to the findings … We have its response,” he said. ”City Power should start fixing the power stations that are not functioning properly, so that we have fewer outages in Johannesburg.”
The NER conducted an independent audit on City Power earlier this year because it was concerned about the large number and severity of power interruptions caused by the poor state of electricity-distribution infrastructure.
”The NER is of the opinion that the City Power network is in a serious state of disrepair,” the report said. ”Even if the maintenance and refurbishment plans are properly executed each year, it will still take a number of years to bring the network back to the required level of reliability.”
The main findings of the report are that there are serious transformer leaks, even at some of the major infeed substations, that there appear to be insufficient maintenance standards for power equipment, and that no budget is set aside to accelerate plant refurbishment.
The NER said City Power lacks a credible paper trail and records, that there is evidence of non-adherence to works procedures, that sites and substations are not being sufficiently maintained and that there is a negative impact on the environment.
City Power has indicated that its maintenance and refurbishment plans are in place to bring the network back to an acceptable state.
Brian Hlongwa, a member of the mayoral committee responsible for municipal services in the city, said: ”We know … what the challenges are. We know the cost of providing the service, in putting our proposals for tariffs. The issues of affordability are important because … the ratepayer pays for this.”
Hlongwa said it is for this reason that City Power cannot be told by the NER that it is underspending.
Zimu said NER representatives were taken to problematic substations, and nothing was hidden from them.
An NER consultant came up with a detailed report, which was discussed with City Power, he said.
City Power said it has spent R450-million on upgrading and refurbishing the city’s supply network in the 2004/05 financial year. This amount is set to increase to R675-million for the financial year 2005/06.
City Power said this aggressive spending on infrastructure has seen a reduction in the number of power outages by 37%, compared with last year.
Its complaint will be sent to the NER’s board of directors. — Sapa