Electricity utility City Power on December 1 deployed 52 newly appointed electricians to lessen its reliance on contractors and foster area-specific accountability in the Johannesburg power network.

The electricians will be posted in problem-prone sections of the City Power network and assume direct responsibility for sections of the grid.

Previously, contractors were “haphazardly” employed by City Power to rectify outages and resolve long-term issues, but the newly appointed electricians will foster a better understanding of issues and build up a body of knowledge specific to their area, City Power posits.

It says that this will enable more sustainable solutions to short- and long-term issues based on the in-house electricians’ region-specific experience.

“This will save City Power millions of rands annually in contractor fees and ensure better accountability in the work undertaken on a day-to-day basis.

“While we acknowledge and appreciate the work done by our good contractors, City Power needs to build its own capacity and require direct accountability on the workmanship from own electricians. Shoddy workmanship will no longer be tolerated,” Environment and Infrastructure Service MMC Michael Sun says.

More electricians will be in-sourced by City Power in coming months with the aim that a total contingent of 300 electricians be deployed by mid-2023.

“This is part of a grander strategy to decrease the amount of emergency repair funds spent on labour as opposed to repair components and equipment needed to sustainably repair and rehabilitate infrastructure.

“This ratio currently stands at 70% labour and 30% materials respectively. This must be inverted to ensure seventy percent of this budget is used on materials and not labour,” Sun notes. 

The plan has been six months in the making, with over 100 applications being received for the electrician posts.

“I want to congratulate the new team of City Power electricians, many of them young people and women that will lead a new age of accountability and quality craftsmanship within City Power. My message to them is ‘Go serve the residents of Joburg well, let us take pride in our work and ensure that every fault you fix will be a step closer in us building a better City as part of the multiparty government’s golden repair',” Sun enthuses.