City Energy teams resolved 8 532 streetlight faults in one month, highlighting ongoing efforts to maintain public lighting infrastructure despite theft, vandalism and illegal electricity connections.
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The City’s Energy teams attended to 8 532 streetlight-related service requests between 26 February and 25 March 2026, demonstrating consistent operational performance in maintaining public lighting infrastructure across communities.
The sustained response rate follows the introduction of additional night-time patrols, allowing teams to proactively identify faults, monitor lighting burn rates and log outages more efficiently. Between February and March 2026, a total of 26 179 electricity-related service requests were recorded and resolved.
According to the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Energy, Alderman Xanthea Limberg, teams are resolving an average of more than 300 streetlight service requests daily. The targeted intervention of night patrols has helped identify faults earlier, particularly in areas where under-reporting of outages has historically slowed response times.
Area East recorded the highest number of streetlight-related service requests attended to, with 3 501 cases reported across Helderberg, Oostenberg, Bloemhof and Parow. This represents an increase of 102 service requests compared to the previous reporting period.
High service request volumes highlight both strong community reporting and ongoing challenges linked to infrastructure crime. Theft, vandalism and illegal electricity connections continue to disrupt services and place pressure on municipal resources.
City Energy teams continue working closely with Law Enforcement agencies to address criminal activity affecting electricity infrastructure, while encouraging residents to remain vigilant and report suspicious behaviour.
In the current financial year, the City has allocated R75,5 million for the upgrade and expansion of streetlight infrastructure. Additional interventions include the rollout of anti-vandalism technologies and the installation of low street-value materials to discourage theft of copper components.
Access points to electricity infrastructure are also being reinforced through welding and other protective measures to make forced entry more difficult.
City interventions include the Protect Your Power campaign, which raises awareness about the impact of vandalism, illegal connections and infrastructure theft on communities.
Streetlight-related service requests attended to per metro area during the period include:
Area East (Helderberg, Oostenberg, Bloemhof, Parow): 3 501
Area North (Vanguard, Mowbray, City, Atlantis): 1 771
Area South (Mitchells Plain, Wynberg, Gugulethu, Muizenberg): 3 210
The City encourages residents to continue reporting faults and suspicious activity to help protect essential electricity infrastructure and maintain safe, well-lit communities.
Residents can report streetlight and electricity faults via the Call Centre on 0860 103 089, SMS 31220, or WhatsApp 060 018 1505.
Suspicious behaviour can also be reported to the Public Emergency Communication Centre on 021 480 7700 or anonymously to the Copperheads hotline on 0800 222 771.
