Lights out for businesses in Joburg
City of Joburg power utility City Power is on a disconnection campaign to recover R1 billion in unpaid electricity bills, focusing on big businesses.
The city said that City Power is owed R10 billion in unpaid electricity bills, 30% (R3 billion) of which is from businesses.
The utility is focusing on large power users in the Inner City Precinct, where it has already disconnected six large businesses, including a building housing a higher education institution with R4.9 million arrears.
“In total, the campaign by the City of Johannesburg is targeting 1,062 municipal accounts, with a total arrears balance exceeding R1 billion,” it said.
Key focus areas include Marshalltown, Fordsburg, and Doornfontein.
The utility said it was also focusing on illegal connections in the city, having already removed and confiscated over 10,000 kilograms of illegally connected aluminium cable.
The cable, valued at approximately R500,000, was used to connect informal settlements to the grid, threatening the stability of the power supply and the safety of community members.
The city said this was a repeat occurrence, with the areas targeted having previously been nailed for illegal connections.
“Previous disconnection efforts over the past year in the same areas have been undermined by repeated illegal reconnections, indicating a persistent and organised effort by criminal syndicates,” it said.
As a long-term solution, the city is now looking to relocate the transformer substation to a more secure location where is not susceptible to tampering.
It said that illegal connections continue to have a catastrophic impact on the electricity network and damage infrastructure, with Joburg losing R2 billion a year in non-technical losses, including illegal connections and meter bypasses.
“Meanwhile, industrial companies located close to informal settlements are directly affected by illegal connections due to the frequent power outages caused by overloading,” it said.
“This results in businesses halting operations, which in extension impacts the economy.”
Joburg’s problems extend to Eskom
The City of Joburg is being forced to take drastic action to collect money owed because it, too, owes billions to national utility Eskom.
In November 2024, Eskom issued a notice of intention to interrupt power supply to Johannesburg, citing an outstanding debt of R4.9 billion in arrears, and an additional R1.4 billion in current charges.
A mediation process was initiated in November of last year when the national government stepped in, which resulted in an agreement being negotiated and affirmed in June 2025.
Under the agreement, City Power will pay Eskom R3.2 billion over the next four years. In return, Eskom will write off R830 million in penalties and related costs.
While lower than the original claim by Eskom, the R3.2 billion is still a pressing issue for a city that has a stressed budget and a long list of issues that need to be addressed.
Infrastructure in the city is collapsing after years of neglect, with a maintenance backlog of well over R200 billion.
In addition, the city has been strapped with paying off the debt of the failed e-tolling project, sapping billions more from the fiscus.
Now with a sizeable Eskom bill slapped on, the city has no choice but to aggressively pursue residents and businesses who have been taking a free ride.
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