 | |
| Company type | Electric utility |
|---|---|
| Industry | Electric power industry |
| Founded | 1 January 2001; 24 years ago (2001-01-01) |
| Headquarters | 40 Heronmere Road,Reuven,, |
Area served | Johannesburg |
Key people |
|
| Revenue |  R 17 billion (2020/21) |
| Total assets | R 19.7 billion (2019/20) |
Number of employees | 1750 (2020/21) |
| Website | citypower |
City PowerJohannesburg (orJoburg City Power) is astate ownedpower utility, wholly owned by theCity of Johannesburg. Its responsibilities include buying electricity from power producers and supplying it to the public, and installing and maintaining the electrical infrastructure in the City of Johannesburg. It supplies electricity to 3.2 million people in the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Area.[1]
Joburg City Power was established as a separate company from the City of Johannesburg on 1 January 2000. On 19 December 2001, theNational Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA), granted City Power a licence to trade.
In 2022, it took over the electricity distribution functions fromEskom toSoweto and parts of Johannesburg, includingSandton,Orange Farm, Finetown,Ivory Park andDiepsloot; Eskom was previously responsible for supplying electricity to most parts of Johannesburg.[2][3]
In 2013, a controversialR1.2 billion contract was awarded by the City of Johannesburg to Edison Power, a company owned byVivian Reddy, a close ally ofJacob Zuma, for smart meters used by City Power customers.[4] Edison Power was initially allocated a R600-million share of an R800-million contract. Subsequently, the contract value was revised to R1.25 billion and Edison Power received the exclusive contract.[4] When its maintenance budget ran dry in 2025, it launched an investigation into the conduct of 15 employees and some contractors who were allegedly responsible for fraudulent invoicing, inflated prices for cleaning equipment, ineffectual maintenance and failed infrastructure projects.[5]
In 2025, theHawks raided City Power in an ongoing investigation concerning suspicious payments totalling half a billion rand. City Power executives approved 3 payments to contractors; one of which is under investigation by the Hawks.[6][7]
City Power currently obtains 90% of its power from Eskom and 10% from theKelvin Power Station from which it seeks to move away from.[8]
In 2014, it announced that it will remotely switch offgeysers "to reduce the impact of load shedding."[9]
In 2021, it resolved to be an electricity generator to "reduce over-reliance on Eskom".[10] In 2023, the City of Johannesburg along with City Power aimed to cutload shedding in Johannesburg by 3 stages through the use ofsmart meters and the recommissioning of two existingopen cycle gas turbines. It also sought to secure power on a long-term basis fromindependent power producers (IPPs).[11]
In 2023, City Power said it had to replace more than 390 mini-substations (pole-mountedtransformers), at a cost of R200 million which constituted 80% of its budget for the year. The cause of this was load shedding, theft and vandalism.[12][13][14]
In September 2023, City Power announced a drive that would replace all meters withsmart meters before 24 November 2024. This was due to a limitation in all meters that generate a token ID using theStandard Transfer Specification. This change would also enable City Power to remotely limit electricity usage in households whose usage is higher than normal.[15]
From 6 November 2023, City Power took over management of the load shedding schedule from Eskom.[16]
From 10 June 2024, City Power implemented its own form of load shedding called load reduction.[17]
In 2023, throughgrid access it aims to obtain 53MW from customer-embeddedrooftop solar generation and 3.7MW from municipal buildingPV generation, for a total of 60MW.[2]
By 2026/27, it hopes to target 480MW (with 200MW coming from households and businesses, 150MW fromindependent power producers on private and mining land, 50MW from financed rooftop IPP PV programmes, 27MW through municipal building PV generation, 33.5MW fromlandfill gas generation and solidwaste-to-energy, and 20MW fromnatural gas generation.)[2]
In July 2023, the City of Johannesburg introduced wheeling tariffs which charge both independent power producers and City Power customers to allow use of the existing grid infrastructure to supply customers with electricity.[18]
In August 2023, City Power secured 92MW from four IPPs:waste-to-energy (20MW), gas-to-power (31MW) and PV solar generation (40.8MW).[19]
In April 2024, the 50 MW John Ware Gas Turbine Power Station was recommissioned.[20]
City Power has endeavoured to collect R8.9 billion owed by businesses and households. It did this by first giving notices of disconnecting the power of delinquent parties, and compelling them to pay. It said it will impose penalties on businesses and residential complexes that have defaulted on their accounts and connected electricity illegally.[21]
TheApartheid Museum was one of the disconnected clients, with it owing R1.8 million.[22] The Gauteng Treasury was another, with it owing over R34 million.[23] In February 2023, some of the disconnected clients were a shopping centre running an illegal connection on its meters and was penalised with a R100 000 fine, theChurch of Scientology with R877 000 in arrears, a sports club inBryanston which owed R2.3 million and the Nigerian consulate which owed R406 000.[21]
In October 2023, it announced that it would give government entitiesRahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital and theHelen Joseph Hospital 14 days to settle a combined debt of R32 million.[24]
In June 2024, Eskom issued an ultimatum to the City of Johannesburg (COJ) and City Power for electricity non payment. Joburg owes Eskom R3.4 billion.[25] According to the record, last payments were made in October 2023.[26] The Johannesburg High Court instructed the City of Johannesburg and City Power to immediately pay the first billion of their defaulting amount.[27]
In September 2023, City Power conducted a disconnection drive of non-paying customers in Naturena and theLenasia Service Delivery Centre (SDC) in an attempt to collect revenue; the Lenasia SDC which includes surrounding areas likeEldorado Park,Ennerdale, Zakariyya Park and Lehae, owed R 1.3 billion.[28]
The City of Johannesburg, through City Power meters, began subtracting municipal debt owed by businesses and residential customers from prepaid electricity purchases.[29]
From July 2024, City Power began deducting a R230 service charge from its prepaid customers; along with an increase in the electricity price per KWh, this saw a 23.15% increase from the previous year for all customers including indigent customers (6 to 12 times the inflation rate).[30][31]
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