Property owners in Johannesburg's Central Business District (CBD) are at their wit's end as repeated electricity failures leave residential buildings and businesses without power and water for days at a time. The Johannesburg Property Owners and Managers Association (JPOMA) has warned that the crisis is threatening years of investment and regeneration in the inner city. According to JPOMA, property owners have invested heavily in buying and renovating ageing CBD buildings, but prolonged power and water failures are undermining this work.
The Marshalltown area, home to Central Substation, which supplies large parts of the Johannesburg CBD, has been particularly hard hit. An outage tracker based on City Power reports recorded 10 outages affecting the suburb over the past 90 days, four of which were linked to the substation. Some inner-city residents have endured outages totalling about 17 days, only to lose electricity again within hours of supply being restored. This has resulted in significant costs for property owners, with one member reporting spending R1.115-million on diesel over two months across three residential buildings.
The cost of keeping buildings functioning has become staggering, with property owners spending millions on diesel to keep generators running. One property owner estimated spending R2.5-million during about 14 days of generator operation across another portfolio, while another reported spending R200,000 on diesel over two months. Another property owner reported spending R10,000 every two days on water, with diesel potentially adding R15,000 every two days if their generator ran continuously. However, even this expenditure does not necessarily keep the lights on inside people's homes.
The electricity failures are also becoming water failures, as municipal pressure is insufficient to move water to upper floors. Once stored supplies are exhausted, residents can be left without water for drinking, washing, and sanitation. Generators in many residential buildings are being used primarily to keep lifts, common-area lighting, and water pumps operating while tenants remain without normal electricity in their flats. This has resulted in vacancy levels among affected property owners rising from about 3% to about 20% over two months.
The crisis is driving tenants away, undoing years of work to attract investment into Johannesburg's inner city. Property owners had bought and renovated ageing buildings, bringing investment and much-needed residential accommodation into the CBD. Now, prolonged electricity failures – and the resulting loss of water – are driving tenants away. One building has lost 20 tenants in a single month, while rental boycotts, requests to terminate leases, and tenants moving out have been reported.
City Power has acknowledged the "severe impact" of the prolonged interruptions on residents, businesses, and property owners. According to spokesperson Isaac Mangena, the outages experienced during September resulted from separate incidents affecting an already complex underground network, followed by further technical setbacks during restoration. The inner city is supplied through about 14km of underground cable tunnels, which City Power said were difficult to secure due to their size, multiple access points, and the nature of the underground environment.
JPOMA has called for effective protection of Central Substation and the underground electricity network, publication of findings into repeated fires, and a funded repair and prevention plan with clear responsibilities, deadlines, and public progress reports. The association also wants reliable area-specific restoration updates, emergency water support where electricity outages disrupt water supply, and direct engagement with affected residents, businesses, and property owners. Ultimately, residents need more than another restoration announcement; they need "electricity that stays on", access to water, and a credible explanation of how the next failure will be prevented.
Key points
- Property owners in Johannesburg's CBD are spending millions on diesel to keep buildings running as repeated electricity failures drive away tenants.
- The crisis is driving tenants away, undoing years of work to attract investment into Johannesburg's inner city.
- JPOMA has called for a funded repair and prevention plan with clear responsibilities, deadlines, and public progress reports to address the electricity crisis.
