The City of Johannesburg has denied claims that City Power’s ability to address outages has been impacted by a payment dispute grounding its test-branch fleet.

This follows allegations by the Democratic Alliance (DA) that a financial dispute between the city and Afrirent Fleet Management Company – reportedly involving over R90 million in unpaid fees – had grounded nearly 200 of City Power’s test-branch vehicles, causing delays in resolving over 500 outages per depot.

“The grounding of essential vehicles has critically hampered the ability to restore power to residents across the city,” said Cllr Nicole van Dyk, DA Johannesburg Shadow MMC for Water, Power and Environment. She said that the grounding of test branch vehicles had resulted in outages lasting several days, leaving residents distressed.

In an appeal to Mayor Dada Morero, the DA called for clarity on how the city intends to address the escalating outages.

The City of Johannesburg denied these claims, stating City Power’s service delivery had not been disrupted by the payment dispute with Afrirent. According to the city, City Power is currently undergoing a scheduled de-fleet process to replace old vehicles with new ones. “All new vehicles intended to replace the grounded fleet have been successfully delivered and deployed across City Power’s depots,” the city said.

The city further criticised the DA’s allegations, calling them misleading. “It is unfortunate that some elected representatives have chosen to spread misinformation rather than seeking factual clarification,” the city said.

Bad weather

In a statement released on Monday, January 6, the utility acknowledged a surge in power outages across Johannesburg but attributed the delays to adverse weather conditions. “The heavy rainfall and resulting flooding, uprooted trees and damage to our electrical infrastructure, including underground cables, have placed immense pressure on our operations and caused response delays,” the utility said.

The utility added that additional resources had been deployed and technicians and contractors on leave had returned to ensure operational teams are fully staffed. City Power also assured residents that it has a “full stock of materials and other resources”. On social media platform X, City Power warned that ongoing inclement weather could further hinder its ability to restore power promptly