Prepaid electricity users cautioned about downtime for City internet-related services. Picture: Matthews Baloyi.
The prepaid electricity users in the City of Tshwane will be able to load prepaid electricity over the long weekend, but they have cautioned about downtime for municipal internet-related services.
Municipal spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the City was informed by its internet service provider, the State Information Technology Agency (SITA), that it will upgrade the electrical infrastructure at its hosting data centre in Centurion.
“During the upgrade process, electricity supply to the whole SITA data centre will be shut down. This interruption will also affect the City’s own network and server equipment, which are situated inside the SITA hosting facility,” he said.
He said all City-hosted equipment will be turned off in advance to safeguard them from potential harm.
The downtime was scheduled to start on August 8 and is expected to end on August 11 at 6am.
Mashigo said some services might be restored by Saturday afternoon, depending on SITA’s progress.
The City’s internet-related services that will be interrupted during downtime include telephone lines: 012 358 9999 or 080 1111 556, internet access, external email delivery, City of Tshwane public hosted websites, electricity vending and enquiries on the City’s social media channels X and Facebook.
The City urged prepaid electricity users to buy and upload enough power for the long weekend by Thursday afternoon.
Mashigo said: “Vending will not be impacted by the downtime as prepaid electricity sales in the City are done on a third-party system. This means that customers will be able to buy electricity. However, vending done after 4pm on Thursday will only reflect when the City goes online again and the system can accept the batch runs on the prepaid system.”
He said payment made by a customer disconnected during the downtime will not reflect on the City’s system, “which would make a reconnection impossible”.
During this period, residents are requested to report all power failures via SMS by sending the word “power” and their account number to 082 612 0333.
“Customers can also report water leaks, potholes, sewer and stormwater complaints on the e-Tshwane self-service platform at www.e-tshwane.co.za,” Mashigo said.
The payments can be made via third-party platforms, but ratepayers should note that payments will only reflect when the system is online again.
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