Power cuts in South Africa: trend to get off the grid is gathering pace, but total independence is still a way off

Hartmut Winkler

SOUTH Africans have been battered by power shortages for several years. These have worsened to the point that towards the end of 2022 the country’s electricity utility, Eskom, had only half of its power generation capacity operational.

This has forced Eskom to escalate its rotational power cuts. By mid-January 2023, users were typically without electricity for 8 to 10 hours a day. The situation is unlikely to improve much in the short to medium term. It’s expected that this year, especially as power demand increases in winter, the country’s electricity supply will decline to the point where power may sometimes be available for only 12 hours a day.

Nor is the situation expected to improve in the medium to long term. The national electricity utility is in a precarious financial situation.

The result is that South Africans are increasingly being forced to explore alternative sources of electricity. From big companies down to small