Will 2023 set a new record for power outages in South Africa?

 

South Africa is dealing with a major problem with regular power cuts, and the situation is worsening. According to a recent research, by mid-October 2023, the total time without electricity might be twice as long as it was in 2022.

According to energy expert Pieter Jordaan's evaluation, South Africans have already gone 61.5 days without power this year. That equals to 1,476 hours of darkness. In comparison, there were 34.6 days of blackouts in 2022, totaling around 830 hours.

If the current conditions continue, South Africa might go without power for 86.1 days in 2023, or about a quarter of the year.

Although there have been a few days with less power outages recently, the whole situation is terrible.

"Load shedding" is when power is purposely reduced to avoid a total power system failure. Eskom, the state-owned electricity utility, has been doing this due to a variety of difficulties, including insufficient servicing and infrastructure challenges.

Recently, there was a 7-day period with fewer blackouts, but before that, there was a concerning 91-day pattern of increased load shedding. The pattern over the last year additionally shows that there have been increasing power outages, particularly after load shedding began in September 2022.

Eskom is trying to handle this by providing daily updates on when load shedding will occur. They discontinued load shedding during the day this week since fewer people required electricity, but they will probably resume power cuts at night.

People in big cities may check when the electricity will be off online, and there are phone apps that can inform you when the power will be cut in your location.

We can only imagine how difficult life is for the people of South Africa. They are experiencing major interruptions in their regular activities as a result of power outages.

Life is difficult when you don't have power for 30 to 60 days. Lights are not permitted in your home or at work. You are not allowed to use any electrical gadgets.