Experts speak out on concerns

City Power is battling to recover millions lost annually by businesses due to outages caused by cable theft and vandalism. The power utility is improving its systems to ensure these costs are also captured.

"When running at a loss, you can't do your work properly, can't do upgrades and carry out essential maintenance.

"You also start raiding other sources of income and cut back on work that is not essential for that moment."

The entity currently has a R44 billion infrastructure backlog for refurbishments and replacement of ageing equipment and resources. Spokesperson for City Power Isaac Mangena admits the entity does not have the budget to eliminate the backlog.