Load shedding in South Africa: From 2007 to it’s ‘not the end of the world’

The ANC’s deputy chairwoman of the National Council of Provinces and Member of Parliament (MP), Sylvia Lucas, has made a lot of people angry following her comments that “load shedding is not the end of world”.

She made the utterance during a debate about the State of the Nation Address (Sona) and it didn’t take long before angry tax payers started having a go at her.

National Council of Provinces Deputy Chair Sylvia Lucas says “load shedding is not the end of the world”, and that sabotage is responsible for higher stages of load shedding. How would you describe load shedding? @StephenGrootes #SAfmSunrise #Loadshedding #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/JntsCSol4S

— SAfmRadio 📻 (@SAfmRadio) February 14, 2024

ALSO READ: Tshwane load shedding schedule for Wednesday

“That’s very easy to say when your very secure home is fitted with a taxpayer-funded generator,” said one social media user on X.

“This confirms how out of touch and overwhelmed these thieving comrades are. Shame on you, Sylvia Lucas,” said Herman Mashaba, the leader of ActionSA.

In light of these utterances, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has released data that shows how much power was shed per year since 2007, as well as the duration of the outages in hours.

ALSO READ: Eskom load shedding schedule: Wednesday, 14 February 2024

FROM 2007 TO 2013

In 2007, South African experienced 176GWh with “unknown” load shedding stage, meaning it does not fall under the current load shedding stages we all know and hate.

In 2008, it increased slightly to 476GWh, also with the same “unknown” load shedding stage. There is no information for the hours of load shedding in these years. The years 2009 to 2013 saw no load shedding or data was not recorded for it.

ALSO READ: Will load shedding be the ANC’s undoing come 2024 elections?

FROM 2014 TO 2015

Then in 2014, South Africans had 121 hours of power cuts, with an energy shed of 203GWh. According to the data, this was Stage 3 load shedding.

The year 2015 saw a drastic increase from the previous year, with 852 hours of load shedding and 1,325GWh shed. That year, Stage 1 and 2 were mostly implemented.

ALSO READ: Load shedding to be REDUCED to stage 3

FROM 2018 TO 2020

In 2018, South Africans were left in the dark for 127 hours of load shedding, with shedding of 192GWh. Stage 1 load shedding was implemented.

In 2019, there was a significant increase in load shedding compared to the previous year, with 530 hours recorded, resulting in 1,352 GWh of energy shed. Load shedding ranged from Stage 1 to Stage 4.

In 2020, the hours of load shedding increased even further to 859 hours, with a corresponding energy shed of 1,798 GWh. Load shedding varied between Stage 1 and Stage 4 throughout the year.

ALSO READ: ‘It’s sabotage’: Mbalula tries to shift load shedding blame

FROM 2021 TO 2023

Load shedding hours continued to rise in 2021, reaching 1,169 hours, and the energy shed escalated to 2,521 GWh. The implemented load shedding stages fluctuated between Stage 1 and Stage 4.

The year 2022 marked a significant spike in load shedding hours, totalling 2,773 hours, with a substantial energy shed of 11,529 GWh. Load shedding stages ranged from Stage 1 to Stage 6.

In 2023, South Africans endured a record-breaking 332 days of load shedding, and according to EskomSePush data, a total of 19,793 GWh had been shed between January and September 2023.

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