South Africa passes 200 days of rolling blackouts - and counting - as 2022 draws to a close

South Africa passed 200 days of power cuts in 2022 on Tuesday, with more to come.

Eskom said on Christmas Day it would cut 1,000 megawatts from the grid until further notice.

Stage 1 loadshedding will be implemented from 05:00 on Monday morning until further notice. This is possible due to the lower demand for electricity during the day, reducing the reliance on emergency generation reserves.

— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) December 25, 2022

On Tuesday, Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. announced further that it will ramp up power cuts from stage-1 load shedding, to stage 3 from 4 pm until 5 am for the rest of the week. It will cut 2,000 megawatts from 5 am to 4 pm on Wednesday, the utility said on Twitter.

Eskom has implemented record rotational blackouts this year because its old and poorly maintained power stations continually break down.

1/2 Stage 3 loashedding will be implemented from 16:00 today until 05:00 tomorrow morning. This will be repeated everyday for the remainder of the week. Stage 2 loadshedding will be implemented from 05:00 tomorrow morning until 16:00.

— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) December 27, 2022

The energy shortages have dented investment and weighed on output.

“The fluctuations in the supply of electricity have profound implications for the economy and could be viewed as the biggest risk to growth and, through that, the future of South Africa,” said Sygnia executive chairperson Magda Wierzycka.

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The Reserve Bank said last month that power outages mean the economy is only likely to expand by 0.1% in the final quarter. It predicts economic growth will slow to 1.1% in 2023 from 1.8% this year and it assumes increased power rationing will shave 0.6 percentage points off output.

The resignation of André de Ruyter as Eskom chief executive gives South Africa the opportunity to bring in a skilled and experienced CEO that has the requisite political support, Wierzycka said. “It will not be easy to find someone suitable, but the government cannot afford to get it wrong one more time.”

Read in Daily Maverick:

“After the Bell: The problem with Eskom is that it’s not just Eskom”

“What a tangled web has been woven around Eskom, much of it having little to do with electricity”

Eskom supplies most of the nation’s electricity and doesn’t generate enough revenue to cover its operating costs and interest bill, leaving it dependent on state bailouts to survive.

Its outgoing CEO warned on Friday that the power supply outlook for 2023 will be very constrained, and rolling blackouts will continue until an additional 4,000MW to 6,000MW of generating capacity is added to the grid. Bloomberg