E NERGY
For the City of Tshwane, the provision of affordable and sustainable access to electricity to all households in the municipal area remains one of the City’s key service delivery priorities.
Striving for
electricity for all
A
s unpacked in its Integrated Development Plan for the 2016-21 term of administration, the City committed itself to the provision of access to electricity as a basic service. This pledge was further translated into targeted deliverables, wherein the provision of access to electricity was identified as one of the critical deliverables that the City budgeted for and set out to deliver on. In its quest to provide access to a reliable and sustainable supply of electricity, the City undertakes to connect households to the mains electricity supply, and upgrade, repair, refurbish and maintain the electricity infrastructure or network. The City also deals with illegal connections and tries to reduce uncounted-for electricity. Extending the provision of access to electricity to previously marginalised areas and addressing the backlog also mark focal areas. While the City always makes strides to respond adequately to
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the demand for electricity as a basic service needed by the residents, these intentions are constrained by a number of challenges, which continue to impede the response of the City to the needs of the communities it serves. Compounding the challenges in the provision of access to electricity is the fact that the City has recorded countless illegal land invasions, which have contributed to the drastic increase in the number of households, especially in informal settlements. It is estimated that there are over 345 000 households in the informal settlements sited across Tshwane, and this places a significant strain on the City’s ability to meet its access to electricity provision obligations.
Providing access to citizens The City has recently prioritised
the provision of electricity to areas without access, focusing specifically on low-cost housing through the implementation of the Electricity for All Programme. Although it has met with significant difficulties, which impeded the full realisation of the targets set, the City made a notable progress in the provision of access to electricity. Through the New Connections Programme, the City supplies up to 11 kV electricity to all consumers in Tshwane. This takes into consideration the planning, processing and managing of all electrical supplies, and the speedy and accurate compilation of a quotation in accordance with the applicable tariff document, conditions of supply, bylaws and safety standards. Although there was an observed underperformance with regard to
We cannot encourage development in Tshwane without supplying the needed infrastructure to support it.” Executive Mayor Cllr Randall Williams
