POWER CRISIS: Property owners spend millions on diesel as Joburg CBD power outages drive away tenants

Property owners in Johannesburg’s CBD say they are at their wits’ end as repeated electricity failures leave residential buildings and businesses without power and water for days at a time.

Marshalltown, home to Central Substation, which supplies large parts of the Johannesburg CBD, has been particularly hard hit. An outage tracker based on City Power reports recorded 10 outages affecting the suburb over the past 90 days, four linked to the substation.

Some inner-city residents have endured outages totalling about 17 days, only to lose electricity again within hours of supply being restored.

In a strongly worded statement, the Johannesburg Property Owners and Managers Association (JPOMA) warned that repeated electricity failures were threatening years of investment and regeneration in the inner city.

JPOMA executive head Angela Rivers said property owners who had invested heavily in buying and renovating ageing CBD buildings were increasingly frustrated that prolonged power and water failures were undermining that work.

Examples supplied by JPOMA members cover more than 6,000 residential units alone, not including business and retail, that are affected by the outages, although the association stressed that this was not a count of the entire affected area.

Rivers said the cost of keeping buildings functioning had become staggering.

One member reported spending R1.115-million on diesel over two months across three residential buildings. Another estimated spending R2.5-million during about 14 days of generator operation across another portfolio, while a third reported spending R200,000 on diesel over two months.

Another property owner reported spending R10,000 every two days on water, with diesel potentially adding R15,000 every two days if their generator ran continuously.

But even this expenditure does not necessarily keep the lights on inside people’s homes, Rivers added.

JPOMA said generators in many residential buildings were being used primarily to keep lifts, common-area lighting and water pumps operating while tenants remained without normal electricity in their flats.

The association said electricity failures were also becoming water failures. Where municipal pressure was insufficient, electric pumps were needed to move water to upper floors. Once stored supplies were exhausted, residents could be left without water for drinking, washing and sanitation.

The costs forced one property owner to restrict generator operating hours and occasionally shut it down, affecting tenants including dressmakers and other businesses dependent on electricity for their livelihoods.

Running the generator for extended periods also meant it required servicing sooner than usual, at a cost of about R12,000.

Tenants are leaving

Rivers said the electricity crisis was undoing years of work to attract investment into Johannesburg’s inner city.

Property owners had bought and renovated ageing buildings, bringing investment and much-needed residential accommodation into the CBD. Now, she said, prolonged electricity failures – and the resulting loss of water – were driving tenants away.

Vacancy levels among affected property owners had risen from about 3% to about 20% over two months, Rivers said, while one building had lost 20 tenants in a single month.

The crisis was also creating increasingly dangerous situations for those managing the buildings.

Rivers said tenants did not always understand that landlords and building managers had no control over the restoration of municipal electricity.

At Jewel City, she said, a manager was threatened with death and had to be removed from the site. At another inner-city building, tenants stormed the reception area and threatened staff.

JPOMA members have also reported rental boycotts, requests to terminate leases and tenants moving out as the disruption continues.

Alan Tait of Ithemba Property, which owns 16 buildings in the Johannesburg CBD, said most of its buildings had been without electricity for the past few weeks. The company had installed generators to provide power for reception areas, lighting and security, and had also provided gas stoves and freezers in some buildings to assist tenants.

“Tenants are angry. They are losing food, and the cost of diesel and gas is exorbitant,” Tait said. “We understand the cause and we feel for the City Power officials who are under enormous pressure, but this is putting our own staff at risk as well.”

He said the outages had cost the company substantial amounts of money and management time, with senior managers having to visit buildings to speak directly to frustrated tenants.

City Power was already discussing underlying problems with property owners in August. According to JPOMA’s record of an engagement with City Power on 28 August, ageing infrastructure, previous fire damage, temporary supply arrangements, reduced back-up capacity and continuing theft and security challenges were among the issues raised.

JPOMA has called for effective protection of Central Substation and the underground electricity network, publication of findings into repeated fires, and a funded repair and prevention plan with clear responsibilities, deadlines and public progress reports.

It also wants reliable area-specific restoration updates, emergency water support where electricity outages disrupt water supply, and direct engagement with affected residents, businesses and property owners.

“The question is therefore not simply when repairs will be completed,” the association said. “It is why repeated failures continue and what will change before residents face another prolonged blackout.”

Residents needed more than another restoration announcement, it said: they needed “electricity that stays on”, access to water and a credible explanation of how the next failure would be prevented.

City Power: Separate failures hit underground network

City Power, in response to questions from Daily Maverick, acknowledged the “severe impact” of the prolonged interruptions on residents, businesses and property owners, but said the outages experienced during September were not one unresolved fault lasting the entire period.

They resulted from separate incidents affecting an already complex underground network, followed by further technical setbacks during restoration, said Isaac Mangena, spokesperson for the utility.

The inner city is supplied through about 14km of underground cable tunnels, which City Power said were difficult to secure because of their size, multiple access points and the nature of the underground environment. Cable theft, vandalism and interference could cause damage well beyond the point at which they occurred.

City Power said the initial September incident at Central Substation caused extensive damage to the underground network, with theft, vandalism and interference identified as contributing factors.

By 25 September it had restored about 98% of the affected supply and replaced four damaged ring main units.

But before the remaining work was completed, a separate fire broke out in underground infrastructure at Central Substation early on 26 September, cutting electricity again to customers whose supply had already been restored, said Mangena.

The fire damaged cables, the feeder board and associated infrastructure. Its cause remains under investigation by City Power’s Security and Risk Management Services and law-enforcement agencies.

There was another setback on 4 October, when a problem at Karzene Substation interrupted incoming supply to Central Substation. After that was resolved, an electrical flashover occurred on a breaker during an attempt to restore the substation, again forcing technical work to stop while Emergency Management Services attended, he added.

City Power is considering options for a broader refurbishment of Central Substation to make the facility more resilient and reduce reliance on repeated repairs to ageing and damaged infrastructure.

It said it was also working with the South African Police Service, the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department, the Hawks, community policing forums, private security and other agencies to protect the underground network, including armed response, patrols and tunnel sweeps.

Following the 26 September incident, Mangena said City Power asked the Gauteng police commissioner for specialised investigative assistance and increased patrols, saying the repeated targeting of the underground network could involve organised criminal activity rather than isolated theft or vandalism.

As at 6 October, City Power said restoration at Central Substation was continuing and customers were being progressively reconnected. Its revised estimate for full restoration was Thursday, 8 October, subject to repairs, testing and safety checks being completed successfully.

City Power said repeated theft and vandalism could undo restoration work, increase repair costs and lengthen outages. Delays could also occur when frequently stolen or damaged components were unavailable and replacement material had to be sourced. DM

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