City Power has announced ongoing efforts to restore electricity in Braamfontein and other parts of Johannesburg by Friday evening following a week-long outage caused by cable theft and a subsequent fire under the M1 highway.
City Power provides update on M1 highway restoration efforts
City Power has been actively working to address the aftermath of a significant fire under the M1 highway, which resulted from cable theft last week.
In a statement, the electricity supplier confirmed it’s preparing two additional cables to handle the substantial electricity demand from Wits University and other remaining customers.
These efforts are part of a broader strategy to restore power in phases, which helps prevent further strain and potential overloads on the grid.
Despite these measures, unexpected challenges such as cable trips due to faults and suspected overloading have hindered progress.
The utility is optimistic that all affected customers will have power restored by the end of the evening as they switch to a newly live cable while addressing the faults in the original one.
“Customers can assist by unplugging all appliances to ensure smooth restoration and treat all electricity points as live all the time,” City Power said.
These areas in Braamfontein and surrounds are affected
Several areas continue to experience power outages due to the recent cable trip.
Affected locations include:
- Jorrisen Street;
- Siemens Street;
- De Korte North; and
- Juta Street in Braamfontein, along with parts of Parktown West.
These outages have notably impacted local residents and businesses, including major buildings like Braampark, Liberty Life, Thuso House, and the Metro Centre, although some have had power restored through alternative measures.
The situation remains fluid, with City Power committing to frequent updates as they work to stabilise the grid.
Areas at risk of outages caused by M1 highway restoration
As restoration efforts continue, certain areas remain at risk of further outages.
The ongoing refurbishments on the M1 bridge and the need to replace extensive lengths of both stolen and burnt cables imply that some regions might experience intermittent power availability.
Parktown, Newtown, the Johannesburg CBD, and the broader Braamfontein area are particularly vulnerable due to their proximity to the M1 highway and the scale of the required infrastructure repairs.
City Power has implemented contingency measures, including interconnectors, to mitigate the impact and ensure that electricity is available to as many customers as possible during this period.
