Johannesburg’s municipal electricity utility, City Power, is grappling with a severe financial and operational crisis, currently owing R19.6 billion and facing intense public scrutiny over aggressive debt recovery measures that have led to widespread complaints about inflated bills and technical issues.
City Power’s Chief Commercial Officer Thami Mathiso explained that the utility manages nearly 400,000 customers but has seen its paying customer base shrink due to a rise in illegal connections and meter bypasses. As part of a board-approved turnaround strategy, the organization has focused on identifying under-billed or non-paying customers to improve collections and reduce costs. Since taking over billing responsibilities from the City of Johannesburg in July 2025, City Power has significantly reduced customer queries, dropping from around 4,000 to fewer than 800, demonstrating active resolution of resident concerns.
Julia Fish, manager of JoburgCan, a civic organization working closely with City Power through groups like the presidential joburg working group, acknowledged some progress, including a drastic decrease in estimated billing—a long-standing major complaint. However, she emphasized that the core challenges stem from unaffordable tariffs, which have risen exponentially in recent years, making electricity increasingly inaccessible for many residents. The equitable share grant for indigent households has not functioned effectively, and structural issues in tariff design exacerbate the problem.
Fish highlighted a specific pricing imbalance: during winter peak periods, City Power pays approximately R6 per kilowatt-hour for bulk electricity from Eskom but charges residents only around R3 per kilowatt-hour, resulting in substantial losses. She noted that the utility still lacks full control over the entire billing system, with some functions remaining siloed within the City of Johannesburg, contributing to problems with disconnections and bill corrections.
Residents have responded to high costs and billing uncertainty by shifting to prepaid meters, installing solar panels, and adopting backup systems, which has reduced City Power’s sales volume as users draw less from the grid. Fish argued that this trend should be encouraged through bidirectional tariffs allowing solar users to feed excess power back into the grid, along with better integration of battery storage. She criticized current policies that penalize solar adopters, such as restrictions on prepaid options for them, and called for solar to be rewarded rather than hindered, as it eases peak demand strain.
A notable case involved a Parkwood resident whose bill surged to over R60,000 shortly after City Power replaced her meter, despite reduced grid usage following solar and gas installations. Mathiso attributed such overbilling often to installation errors in solar systems, where energy reverses into the grid undetected by non-bidirectional meters, leading to reverse energy being recorded as consumption. He urged solar PV owners to register their systems with City Power, enabling technicians to inspect installations, ensure proper bidirectional metering, and prevent such errors while improving safety for maintenance work.
Fish agreed on the importance of registration for safety reasons—if technicians are unaware of live feed-in mechanisms, it poses risks—but criticized the current process as unclear and burdensome. Residents face inconsistent requirements, such as costly engineering reports or misunderstandings about meter capabilities, with no streamlined online checklist or upload system. She receives dozens of billing complaints daily, many escalated to City Power’s revenue team, though systemic issues persist in meter reading, billing periods, and data capture.
Mathiso and Fish both expressed commitment to ongoing engagement, including through stakeholder groups, to address these challenges. Mathiso stressed a willingness within the city to improve efficiencies, while Fish advocated for a comprehensive overhaul of siloed structures to resolve disputes more effectively.
The crisis reflects broader pressures, including Eskom’s need for higher tariffs to sustain operations and the migration to alternatives amid load-shedding instability, underscoring the urgent need for sustainable solutions to restore financial stability and restore trust among Johannesburg residents.