Dark times: We've had 560 hours of load-shedding so far this year

As power utility Eskom struggles to keep the lights on, locally developed app Eskom se Push has revealed that we may be on course to have the largest amount of hours under load-shedding in six years.

In statistics sent to TimesLIVE this week, the service claimed Eskom has implemented more than 559 hours of stages 1, 2 and 3 of load-shedding in the first half of 2021.

SA is currently experiencing rotational stage 4 power cuts.

Eskom said on Wednesday there were delays in returning generation units to service at several power stations. It said power cuts would continue for the foreseeable future. 

Eskom se Push said its data indicated that load-shedding occurred for 1,374 hours in 2015. 2018 had the least load-shedding, with 141 hours. In 2019 and 2020, load-shedding occurred for 533 and 846 hours respectively. 

If the power utility continues to implement blackouts at the same rate as it started this year, load-shedding may occur for 1,118 hours by the end of this year, which would be the highest since 2015.

A report released by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in March, revealed that February 2020 had the most load-shedding.

There was a notable reduction in March, a month in which SA went on hard lockdown. There was no load-shedding between April and June last year. 

It reported a total of 859 hours of load-shedding last year, its highest on record.

The report further illustrates the challenges in power generation faced by SA. Despite the government pumping billions into Eskom in the form of bailouts, its capacity to generate power has dwindled over the past 10 years.

TimesLIVE