City Power has disconnected the Parktown facility over a disputed municipal bill, affecting 22 child-care NPOs and other critical services.
By Mapaballo Borotho
The City of Johannesburg has stepped up its efforts to recover millions of rands in unpaid electricity bills, with the latest disconnection affecting the Children’s Memorial Institute in Parktown.
City Power has disconnected electricity to the facility over a disputed municipal billing debt of about R44 million.
The disconnection has affected 22 child-care non-profit organisations, special-needs facilities and a provincial hospital laundry operating from the campus.
The facility is now relying on generators, reportedly costing about R30,000 a day.
City Power, together with Johannesburg Executive Mayor Dada Morero, has been disconnecting customers who have defaulted on their electricity accounts.
The City says customers who fail to pay place additional strain on an already embattled electricity supply network.
Morero and City Power have also been engaging communities through Imbizos across Johannesburg to discuss access to electricity and ways for customers to settle mounting electricity debts.
Speaking to Phemelo on Kaya 959’s Point of View, Daily Maverick journalist Anna Cox said the disconnections demonstrate how urgently the City needs to recover money owed to it.
“I think the city is desperate for money at the moment so they are cutting off anyone who owes them a lot of money.”
However, Cox said the City was not necessarily at fault in the Children’s Memorial Institute case, as the money is reportedly owed to the municipality.
She said the Gauteng Department of Health had previously agreed to pay the bills but later raised concerns about the amounts being charged.
According to Cox, the department did not formally lodge a dispute with City Power when it received the higher bills.
She also said the Gauteng Department of Education was not paying its share of the electricity costs.
The Children’s Memorial Institute is home to autism schools operated by the Education Department, adding to concerns about the impact of the disconnection on vulnerable children and essential services.
Cox said the facility had previously been disconnected in November.
Listen to the podcast for the full conversation.
Meanwhile, City Power has restored electricity following a major outage at the Orlando Switching Station on Monday evening, 7 September 2026.
The outage affected large parts of Johannesburg across the Lenasia, Hursthill and Reuven Service Delivery Centres.
City Power said its technical teams prioritised the Orlando Switching Station because of its strategic importance and the number of customers and substations it serves.
Rand Water’s Eikenhof supply was also prioritised during the restoration process.
City Power operators confirmed on Tuesday morning, 8 September 2026, that the Eikenhof Substation and Rand Water’s supply were fully energised and operational.
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