Reporting Outages and Leaks

When your lights go out or your pipes start leaking, you don't have time to waste on wrong lines of communication. The first thing you need to know is: who supplies your area, Eskom or your municipality? That determines who you report the fault to, and you can usually check who supplies you on your bill. But supply areas vary. Here is what you have to do, from identifying the right contacts to ensuring your fault reporting keeps moving with frequent follow-ups.

Electricity: Identify the Fault Channel

The fault reporting channels depend on whether your area gets its electricity directly from Eskom, or from the municipality. There's an easy way to decide: your bill shows who supplies you.

If your area is supplied by Eskom, you call Eskom or use Eskom's Alfred Chatbot to report power loss, get a reference number and a call back for feedback at any time, 24/7.

But even if your region buys its electricity from Eskom in bulk, if you are in the municipality's supply area you have to report to the municipality and its faults team. This gets confusing.

Reporting an Electricity Outage

Once you have identified the right supplier, it is time to follow through with reporting. If it is an Eskom-supplied area, you call Eskom or use the Alfred Chatbot. If it is the municipal distribution area, you call the municipal electricity faults team.

At this stage, you need to ask for a reference number and keep it, for future follow-ups. This applies to Eskom as well. Keep following up, both with the call-back promise from Eskom, and via daily calls or messages to the municipality until you see real progress in resolving it.

Water on the KZN South Coast

Water leaks and outages on the KZN South Coast are the domain of Ugu District Municipality.

When there is a water leak or outage, note your street address and nearest landmark, with a photo where applied, and report it to Ugu. But follow up regularly with the web update or phone enquiry number until the fault is resolved or on track, just as with power outages.

Ugu manages water and sanitation services in the area.

The Bottom Line

So, in summary, power and water faults are different. For power, check who supplied you, usually on your bill, and report power outages to either Eskom or the municipality depending on this, making sure to get a reference and follow up.

For water, it is crucial to know the specific unit responsible for the KZN region you are in.