Infographic: January only load shedding free month in 2022

As South Africans continue to endure the pain of chronic power cuts, Load Shedding Tracker by Outlier shows that January has been the only load shedding free month in 2022.

This comes as Eskom is struggling to meet electricity demand because its old and poorly maintained power stations continually break down.

A month of load shedding

By Saturday, South Africa will have endured an entire month of continuous load shedding.

Load Shedding Tracker by Outlier shows that South Africa has so far experiences 116 days of rolling blackouts, which is almost a third of the year with no indication when the deliberate power cuts would end.

Summer blackouts

So far, Eskom’s own worst-case scenario is its summer plan. This was echoed by the ailing parastatal’s Chief Operating Officer, Jan Oberholzer in September who said deliberate sporadic power cuts were likely to be implemented during summer months.

“We are ramping up planned maintenance as we head into summer. We also find that our maintenance is not yet yielding required results. Units return to work, and then breakdown. This is due to lack of skills.”

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Load shedding has worsened

Data from South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) showed that Eskom had cut 2 276GWh of electricity in the first six months of 2022, more than 90% of the 2 521GWh it shed for the entire 2021.

According to the latest report, South Africa has experienced at least seven distinct periods of load shedding over the past 15 years, with the trend worsening since 2018.

Between 2020 and 2021, the number of load shedding hours increased by more than 300, or 12.5 days, for an approximate total of 1 169 hours, or 48 days.

With three months still left in 2022, the comparison by the CSIR is likely to worsen, adding more days of deliberate power cuts to the already burgeoning total leaving South Africans more angry and frustrated.

Deliberate power cuts

The deliberate power cuts have frustrated South African with many resorting to alternative power sources like generators, inverters and solar energy to keep the lights on.

However, many cannot afford these and rely on Eskom to keep the lights on.

The energy shortages are also weighing heavily on business confidence and output, and contributed to a 0.7% quarter-on-quarter contraction in the economy in the three months to end-June.

Ramaphosa’s plans

While President Cyril Ramaphosa announced steps in July to encourage private power generation to supplement supply from renewable sources.

Oberholzer warned that these plans may not deliver results for the next 12 months.

The president also warned that load shedding was here to stay and while there was no quick fix for the deliberate power cuts, “real progress was being made”.

Ramaphosa’s intention to ease the blow does not sit well with South Africans, as the country continues to suffer with chronic load shedding, with no indication when the blackouts would end.

“Given the unpredictable performance of Eskom’s fleet of coal-fired power stations, we will not be able to eliminate load shedding in the short term. This is the unfortunate reality of our situation, which has had a long history,” the president said.

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