Flailing utility and South African blackout fatigue

With Eskom – South Africa’s state-owned utility – having recently announced a settlement with trade unions in South Africa, there is a spark of hope that the load shedding situation in the country will soon get back to normal.

Unfortunately, this ‘normal’ is not a reference to having a secure power supply, but is rather a tired reference to a state of insecurity where the potential for power cuts lies on the tip of the populace’s tongue.   

Load shedding occurs in South Africa when demand exceeds supply, resulting in the state-owned utility carrying out extensive electricity interruptions. Load shedding is experienced across the country in different stages, at different times, across different areas within any given city.

A strike earlier this year, which according to Eskom CEO Andre De Ruyters is illegal because the provision of electricity is considered an essential service, exacerbated the situation. The strike saw roads to power stations blocked off, cars set on fire and gasoline bombs thrown at managers’ homes.

The strikes placed increased pressure on the utility, which was already struggling, and prevented much-needed maintenance on the country’s electric system.

This in turn resulted in Eskom implementing heightened blackouts. By the beginning of July, the amount of load shed was reportedly equal to more than 90% of the energy shed for the entirety of 2021.

And while Eskom management is seemingly doing its best to get the situation under control, the current crisis is certainly extorting its toll upon the people it places in darkness.

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As a local South African in Cape Town, the effect of the power cuts has been fatiguing, to say the least.

Blackouts have been occurring at least three times a day, depending on the area. And this is in Cape Town, which has been experiencing a watered down version of the power crisis by leveraging the Steenbras dam, a hydroelectric power plant.

Three stages in one day equates to 7.5 hours without electricity. This equates to 7.5 hours of scrambling to sort out a space for power, for work and for sanity.

There is, however, a light at the end of this intermittently dark tunnel – Eskom has, according to Bloomberg, signed a pay deal with South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa and Solidarity for a 7% wage increase.

This is in the hopes of shifting the now dire situation back to a state of potential recovery.

But while this – and let me emphasize, potential – recovery lingers, the country waits with baited breath for the utility to potentially make a u-turn on it’s promises and plunge South Africans into darkness once more

These lights have been switching off and on since 2007, and while such a deal might light the way for now, it most certainly won’t keep the country afloat forever.