What Causes Load Shedding in South Africa?

Load shedding is a system-wide response to South Africa’s electricity challenges. While it ultimately supports the resilience and integrity of the South African energy grid, it disrupts daily life, leading residents to question the cause of such a measure and ponder what they can do to minimise the impact of load shedding on their lives.

Below, learn about the multiple causes of load shedding, how it impacts communities, and the potential solutions to reduce it.

What is Load Shedding?

Load shedding differs from load reduction, which specifically targets areas of high demand or energy theft. Instead, load shedding involves a series of widespread power cuts across the entire Eskom grid to reduce overall load and preserve critical equipment.

Near the end of 2024, Eksom reached a milestone of 250 days without implementing load shedding, but it’s unclear how long that streak will last.

Load shedding occurs in stages, reducing the power load more than the last. The further along the stages get, the less power is available for residents to use and the more frequent outages become, with the final stage being an extended total blackout.

What are the Common Causes of Load Shedding?

Load shedding can be attributed to more than one cause, with several factors that ultimately require this response. Here’s what to know about the many causes of load shedding.

1. Ageing Infrastructure

Eskom’s grid relies on ageing and poorly maintained infrastructure. While the energy demand continues to grow, Eskom has been unable to keep up with upgrades and maintenance for its legacy equipment, leading to issues as parts need replacement. Eskom has a poor track record of building new generation capacity, so the current capacity struggles, increasing the pressure on the country’s energy reserve margin. 

South Africa’s infrastructure problems have caused poorly performing stations to trip and fail, leading to the outages the strategy intends to avoid.

2. Eskom Financial and Operational Challenges

Eskom has long faced financial and operational challenges, from debt to mismanagement to the struggle to keep up with the rising costs of coal. Eskom has massive debts, including R36 billion+ in municipal debt. This debt ties back to the company’s ageing infrastructure; it’s largely because of these debts that the company has been unable to improve or maintain its equipment.

Mismanagement is another recurring theme. The company has been plagued with corrupt leadership and misadministration, with key decisions based on politics, not economics. This poor operational management has created notable waste and inefficiencies within the utility.

Another area where the company’s financial challenges take focus is its struggle to keep up with the cost of coal. As coal prices rose, the country turned to open-cycle gas turbines, which require diesel to run, creating additional costs. 

3. Poorly Performing Coal Fleet

The coal fleet used to provide the grid with energy struggles to supply enough because none of the coal plants operate at their intended capacity. For years, they have tried and failed to improve fleet performance, and while money has been invested in maintenance, there have yet to be results.

At least 4,000-6,000 MW of capacity must be taken offline to complete regular maintenance, but the grid doesn’t have that capacity to spare.

4. Lack of New Generation Capacity

New sources of generation capacity would help the issue, but the necessary upgrades and maintenance to plants have been delayed to avoid further load shedding. It creates a cycle of frustration, disappointment, and scarcity in which residents lack faith in the utility provider while Eskom struggles to find a way forward.

5. Mismatch of Supply and Demand

If South Africa did not have the increasing energy demand it’s facing, it might not have such intrusive problems. However, the grid’s capacity to deliver electricity falls short of the total energy the country demands, especially during hours and days of peak demand.

What are the Effects of Load Shedding?

Load shedding impacts are also multi-fold. It has far-reaching effects on daily life, productivity, the economy, and more.

Daily Life Disruptions

Load shedding’s rolling blackouts disrupt the daily lives of everyone in the community. They inconvenience and frustrate individuals and challenge places like schools, hospitals, and public transportation spaces.

Equipment and Appliance Damage

Outages can damage equipment, appliances, and electronics, which may require costly repairs or replacements if the damage can not be undone.

Productivity Loss

Load shedding disrupts and delays business operations, leading to a loss of productivity country-wide. It hurts the economy and reduces competition.

Higher Costs

Overall, it leads to higher costs for households and businesses. Many turn to alternative power sources, such as generators or solar panels, to make up for the loss of electricity, and these costs are shouldered individually.

What is the Solution to Reduce Load Shedding

There are several approaches Eskom could take to reduce load shedding.

1. Transitioning to Renewable Energy

If Eskom abandoned its commitment to coal, it could shift money and efforts toward creating new renewable energy generation capacity. However, doing this requires further load shedding, and Eskom has historically avoided this. 

The transition to renewable energy on Eskom’s part is a big ask, but residents can take it upon themselves to shift toward renewable energy sources, like EcoFlow Solar Generators, as well. While this won’t necessarily reduce load shedding, it will help you ride out load-shedding periods with minimal disruption because you will no longer be entirely dependent on the grid. 

The EcoFlow DELTA 2 + 400W Solar Panel is a good entry-level option for running essential appliances and devices, while the EcoFlow DELTA Pro + 400W Solar Panel can power your whole home, allowing you to continue your daily tasks despite interruptions. 

Even EcoFlow Portable Power Stations can help, allowing you to capture and store grid power when available and utilise it later when you’re without power due to load shedding.

2. Adding Energy Storage

Adding additional coal-powered energy storage could also make a difference. Eskom must upgrade its ageing power plants and invest in new equipment to meet the growing electricity demand. It should build new power plants while improving the efficiency of existing infrastructure.

3. Encouraging Energy Efficiency

Since part of the larger issue is an imbalance of supply and demand, one strategy could be reducing the demand by encouraging energy efficiency through energy-efficient appliances, smart meters, and systems to manage and optimise energy use. This could also include incentives for solar-powered options, making it easier for South Africans to invest in these systems to offload the grid and allow space for upgrades.

4. Addressing Mismanagement and Corruption

Eskom’s issues stem from internal mismanagement, so creating a culture of accountability and building credibility and trust in its management team can go a long way. By creating strict governance and oversight protocols and ensuring corrupt leaders face the consequences, South African residents will begin to trust their utility providers more.

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Thoughts

Load shedding is an unfortunate reality in South Africa as it sometimes becomes necessary to avoid prolonged blackouts and irreversible damage to Eskom’s grid. While there are steps the utility can take to reduce load shedding, such as creating new generation capacity or updating ageing infrastructure, many residents feel it’s more effective to find ways to mitigate the impact of load shedding within their own homes. 

Investing in systems like EcoFlow Solar Generators can allow you to continue with daily tasks and avoid load-shedding disruptions. Since there’s no concrete plan to eliminate load shedding, this is the best you can do now to protect your family and home.