Rolling blackouts
No quick fix as power crisis likely to get worse — Updates and analysis on the latest power cuts
South Africans are experiencing advanced power cuts up to three times a day and more often in parts of Johannesburg where the lights go out for longer blocks of time. Understand why it's happening, what are the plans to recover and what you can do to survive the current and future rounds of power cuts.
The cold, hard facts — there’s no quick fix, and the power crisis is likely to get worse
No knight in shining armour or pretty optics orchestrated by the Presidency will provide a solution.
By Marianne Merten
Eskom is not a ‘political debate’ but an ‘engineering challenge’
As South Africans grumble their way through another week of crippling blackouts, questions are being asked anew about what needs to be done to end South Africa’s years-long electricity crisis. Experts and environmentalists in the energy sector share their ideas.
By Ethan van Diemen
Also read: “‘Rapid green energy transition’ could save world trillions of dollars — Oxford study“
Return of the veterans — inside Eskom’s push to reverse skills and knowledge loss
In response to nearly two weeks of rolling blackouts, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan announced that 18 former Eskom employees with experience had been recruited. Heavy hitters who worked their entire lives at Eskom have been brought in.
By Ray Mahlaka
Thabo Mbeki takes swipe at Eskom executives, notes need to ‘raise quality of leadership’ in SA
Former president Thabo Mbeki has implied that Eskom’s management may not be appropriately suited to run the state-owned power utility. Mbeki believes South Africa lacks true leadership in all spheres, whether in government or society.
By Queenin Masuabi
SA signs agreements with three independent power producers, but is it too little, too late?
The government has signed agreements for three projects and 420MW of wind power in the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme — but this is out of more than 2,500MW and 25 projects that were meant to be already on the grid this year. With a desperate need for more energy generation capacity – why the delay?
By Julia Evans
We are not alone — energy crises are a growing global phenomenon
Record power cuts set to ease, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan says
South African power cuts should ease over the coming days and the nation’s electricity supply will continue to improve over the medium term as new investments bolster generation, according to Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan.
By Bloomberg
I was just explaining to a Martian my three-step plan to fix Eskom
If you were a Martian and you landed in South Africa today, what would you do to fix Eskom? The question is not who is to blame, or what we should have done years ago, but what we can do right now.
By Tim Cohen
Exempt public hospitals from rolling blackouts, health professionals plead
Stage 5 and Stage 6 rolling blackouts have become more frequent and public hospitals are forced to rely on backup generators for hours at a time. These measures often fail to meet the energy demands at facilities, causing delays in treatment and surgeries. The cumulative impact on an already overburdened health system is potentially devastating.
By Tamsin Metelerkamp and Naledi Sikhakhane
Pay less for electricity by getting your head around Eskom’s sometimes confusing block tariffs
The amount of electricity you use each month has a significant impact on how much you will pay per unit. Unmonitored, your bill could cost thousands more than necessary.
By Malibongwe Tyilo
Green hydrogen – how South Africa can capitalise on it, and why we need to do it fast
A recent International Energy Agency report calls for a massive increase of concessional finance to mobilise large-scale private investment in hydrogen projects in developing countries. But how can hydrogen (a gas) be green and why is it necessary in the energy system? Our Burning Planet spoke to experts to find out.
By Julia Evans
The long and short of load shedding solutions – time to call disaster and harness the power of wind and solar energy
We urgently need to adopt short- and long-term solutions, to the energy crisis in general and ever-more-serious load shedding in particular. The one without the other will plunge South Africa into an even deeper crisis, with disastrous economic consequences that will ultimately translate into mass protests that will make the July 2021 insurrection look like a picnic.
By Mark Swilling
Johannesburg plans a two-stage reduction of Eskom power cuts by buying more private power, starting in October
MMC Michael Sun says if the city buys 500MW of independent power, it can reduce the Eskom stranglehold and limit power cuts by 50%.
By Ferial Haffajee
Opposition parties unite to condemn ANC for crippling energy crisis
With Stage 6 rolling blackouts over the weekend, the electricity crisis in South Africa shows no signs of being resolved any time soon. The deepening power cuts left consumers in the dark for hours three times a day — and even more, in some parts of the country.
By Nonkululeko Njilo
Some ugly home truths about the near collapse of our electricity supply are necessary
At least four things helped us into the dark: a lack of vision and intergenerational policy-making; the grotesqueries of ‘our turn to eat’; affirmative action and transformation as ends in themselves; and criminality on the streets and in the boardrooms.
By Ismail Lagardien
Reward municipalities with no Eskom debt by sparing them from rolling blackouts
Good business practice compels the utility to maintain its delivery where its revenue is most stable — in municipalities where the Eskom account is current — to maximise sales and revenue. With some R400bn debt, Eskom cannot afford revenue losses in addition to the cost of rolling blackouts.
By Tertuis Simmers
Cyril Ramaphosa hurries home to guide action plan for country’s crippling power crisis
President Cyril Ramaphosa and his cabinet will meet to follow up on the short-term plans that were formulated after the previous time citizens were hit with power cuts. The country has yet again been experiencing scheduled outages as Eskom continues to encounter breakdowns at its stations.
By Queenin Masuabi
Also read: Ramaphosa – “‘Solving the electricity challenge is vital for South Africa’s investment drive’”
South Africa’s proposed electricity industry reform may well be lost in translation
South Africa’s ruling party recently proposed establishing a second state-owned power company. The purpose is to offset the “grave strategic risk” of relying on Eskom, the country’s monolithic state-owned utility.
By Stephen Labson
Powerless, Clueless, Hopeless: ANC’s complete & sustained failure to deliver electricity will be punished at the polls
The latest power cuts, which may not have even peaked at Stage 6, have once again ignited concerns about this country’s future and posed serious questions about our politics. Considering the magnitude of our problems with Eskom, perhaps this is a reasonable time to ask whether those running South Africa have the expertise, or power, to fix Eskom. Or whether the political heads really understand the pain that this crisis is inflicting on our economy and on people’s lives.
By Stephen Grootes
The less obvious impact of Eskom’s power cuts on our lives
From crime to agriculture – after more than a decade, the inconvenience and deleterious impact on homes and businesses and the broader South African economy caused by power cuts has been well documented.
By Ethan van Diemen
Load shedding 101: How to know which UPS power backup system to buy
- Work out your power needs by adding up the wattage indicated on the appliances.
- Multiply the total watts by the number of hours you think you will need the backup for, and buy a UPS that is indicated for those watt hours.
- If appliances don’t have the wattage indicated, multiply the voltage indicated by the amps indicated to get the watts.
- If possible, avoid buying lead batteries and rather go with lithium.
Rolling blackouts — now is the time for all good mayors and premiers to come to the aid of the country
In South Africa, the provinces get 42% of all non-interest expenditure while local government gets 9.6%. Unfortunately, we often forget about this because everybody is focused on finding out what Ramaphosa and Gwede Mantashe are doing.
Even when the Auditor General says that 157 out of 257 municipalities cannot properly account for how they spent their money, we only talk about Ramaphosa. All the pundits are concentrating all their analysis on the actions of the President.
Premiers and mayors have a lot of power and resources.
Waking up to Stage 6, now Eskom execs are fighting to fend off Stage 8 power cuts
Just before 4 am on Sunday, 18 September, Eskom CEO André de Ruyter’s phone rang. It was his COO Jan Oberholzer warning that red lights were flashing across the power grid and that diesel reserves that keep emergency power going were running lower at Ankerlig, one of two gas turbine power plants keeping the lights on as the coal-fired fleet is in its death throes. They pressed the button on Stage 6 (switching off or load shedding 6000 MW of electricity).
By Ferial Haffajee
Presidency stays silent on Energy Action Plan while South Africans kept in the dark
South African businesses and households are — for the second time this year — languishing in long stretches of imposed idleness and silence as Eskom notched things up to Stage 6 power cuts, with efforts to stave off Stage 8. Meanwhile, calls are being made to introduce emergency measures that include energy rationing.
By Ethan van Diemen
President Ramaphosa cuts short foreign trips to address SA’s power crisis
After an urgent virtual meeting with ministers and officials, the President is on his way back to South Africa to ‘deal with current Stage 6 load shedding’ crippling the country.
By Peter Fabricius
No joke: Eskom wants you to pay 32% more for your electricity from 1 April 2023
Eskom has asked the National Energy Regulator of South Africa to approve a whopping 32.02% electricity price increase for the 2024 financial year, to take effect from 1 April next year.
By Neesa Moodley
Eskom is owed R50bn by municipalities – This infographic shows which council owes what
At the end of July, municipalities across South Africa owed the country’s power utility close to R50bn. We unpack Eskom’s defaulters in graphic form.
By Victoria O’Regan
Load shedding 101 – what to consider when buying LED emergency bulbs for your home
In brief, look for the following when shopping for rechargeable bulbs:
- Watts. The lower the watts, the lower the lumen measurement and therefore the dimmer the bulb
- Lumen units, 800 lumens will give you the equivalent of a normal old-style incandescent 60 watt bulb. However, 13 to 15 watt LED bulbs will give you an equivalent amount of light.
- Double check to see how much dimmer it will be when the power cuts
- Cool white is better for task areas, and warm light for living areas
When shopping for outdoor lights:
- Go solar if you can
- Pay attention to the number of LEDs as well as the beam angle.
Rolling blackouts 101: A few things to consider when buying a fuel-powered back-up generator for the home
From standby and back-up generators to inverter generators, here are some of the things you should consider before buying one.
By Malibongwe Tyilo
Eskom technicians live in daily fear as security threats and violent attacks on staff escalate
Eskom has been temporarily suspending services in some parts of the country as attacks on staff escalate. It says there have been 14 attacks on its staff in Gauteng up to 31 July. No arrests have been made.
By By Bheki Simelane, Suné Payne and Hoseya Jubase
Become an Insider
I’d like to see is a list of which neighbourhoods are exempt from rolling blackouts.
Then I would like to see a list of which neighbourhoods Eskom execs reside in.
I suspect the two lists will be disturbingly similar.
Cancel Eskom’s odious debt to the World Bank
SAFTU reiterates its demand that Eskom’s high-carbon debt – e.g. on Medupi and Kusile coal-fired power stations – must be declared as an Odious Debt because the greatest beneficiaries of it were capitalist corporations such as Hitachi and the cronies in the ANC through corruption successfully prosecuted even in the United States in 2015. The World Bank, bilateral lenders and commercial banks must cancel this debt.