With load shedding now almost a daily norm in most areas around the country
and no prospect of this letting up in the near future, it is becoming necessary
to adapt and attempt to plan our lives around these power outages.
Although Eskom has a schedule of possible outages searchable by area on its
website, www.eskom.co.za, one of the main
frustrations many people have experienced is a lack of communication as to when
exactly their areas will be hit. In addition, these outages often happen at very
short notice which makes it extremely difficult to plan ahead.
Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin called the situation last week a
"national emergency", but said that there was no reason why the South African
economy shouldn't continue at its current healthy levels of growth provided we
change our behavior towards becoming more energy-efficient.
Eskom is currently unable to meet the demand for electricity. This has been
exacerbated by unexpected maintenance issues, which lead to the recent unplanned
power cuts. It is unfortunate, but we now need to plan our business and personal
lives around these power outages for some time to come.
Useful links and articles:
For a schedule of possible outages, visit
Why SA is load shedding when demand is peaking at a mere 33 000 MW
(Engineering News Online)