Load Shedding in South Africa: Our Tips for When the Power Goes Out

What is Load Shedding in South Africa?

What seems unimaginable to most of us — and would probably trigger mass panic, panic buying, and protests — is just part of everyday life in South Africa: power outages. And often for two hours at a stretch, multiple times a day.

Load shedding means the load on the power grid is redistributed. South Africa has too many electricity consumers and not enough generation capacity. The available power has to be divided up by cutting electricity to certain areas on a set schedule — this is meant to prevent a total blackout across the country.

How does load shedding work?

That sounds pretty daunting at first. But don’t worry — once you adjust a little, you get used to it quickly. Here’s exactly how load shedding works.

The power is never cut across the entire country at once. Cape Town, for example, is divided into 16 zones, each of which loses power at different times.

How often the power is cut depends on a system of eight stages. The greater the electricity shortage, the higher the load shedding stage.

• Stage 1: up to 3 times in 4 days for 2 hours
• Stage 2: up to 6 times in 4 days for 2 hours
• Stage 3: up to 9 times in 4 days for 2 hours
• Stage 4: up to 12 times in 4 days for 2 hours
• Stage 5: at least 12 times in 4 days for 2 hours
• Stage 6: up to 18 times in 8 days for 2 hours
• Stage 7: enough to save 7,000 megawatts over 4 days at 4 hours each
• Stage 8: outages of up to 12 hours

From Stage 6 onward, expect additional unplanned power outages on top of the scheduled ones. Stage 8 has never actually been implemented.

How does load shedding affect daily life?

Supermarkets (at least the larger ones like Woolworths and Spar), shopping malls, and restaurants in South Africa have backup generators. When load shedding kicks in, the lights go out briefly before the generators take over and everything runs normally again.

If a restaurant doesn’t have a generator, you’ll usually be told in advance so you can order before the power goes out.

Some restaurants offer a limited menu during outages. Food might still be available but coffee won’t be, for example — cooking works on a gas stove, but the coffee machine needs electricity.

Hotels vary quite a bit, but most have generators. Most of the better hotels in Cape Town typically have one, and accommodations along the Garden Route are often equipped with one too.

At our place in Sea Point, the Latitude Aparthotel, we barely noticed the power cuts at all. The power went off briefly and came back about 20 seconds later.

Our hotel in Prince Albert, on the other hand, was a small four-room guesthouse. It had a generator too, but it wasn’t powerful enough to run the air conditioning. So during load shedding we had electricity — just no AC.

If you’re staying mainly in vacation homes or self-catering apartments, you’ll feel the impact of South Africa’s electricity cuts much more. These places almost never have a generator, and you’ll have to live with the outages. Some vacation homes do have a backup for internet access, so you can at least stay connected. One important note: pay extra attention to our advice on safety in South Africa, since alarm systems and electric fences can fail without a generator.

For attractions and sights, disruptions are rare but do sometimes happen. The Dutchman Funicular at Cape Point, for instance, doesn’t run during load shedding. At the Science Centre featured in our article about Cape Town with kids, some exhibits also go offline during outages.

Why does load shedding exist in South Africa at all?

So how did it even come to this? The list of reasons is long and includes mismanagement, corruption, cost overruns, unplanned maintenance, and inaccurate forecasts.

For years, South Africa’s state energy company ESKOM neglected its crumbling infrastructure. Electricity demand kept rising while the equipment kept aging, and the company could no longer afford the high fuel costs for its generators.

The result? They simply cut the power. In 2008, ESKOM introduced load shedding for the first time due to severe energy shortages — and that same year, South Africa experienced its worst energy crisis on record.

Load Shedding App

For many years there’s been a seriously useful app called Eskom se Push. It keeps you up to date on South Africa’s electricity cuts across different regions:

• What stage is currently active?
• Is the stage about to change?
• When will the power be cut in your area?

This app is an absolute must-have on your phone when you’re traveling in South Africa. Download it before you go.

Load Shedding App for iOS

Load Shedding App for Android

How the load shedding app works

First, set which location you want outage times for. Under Add Area you can add a new region.

If you’re in Cape Town, don’t search for “Cape Town” — search for the specific neighborhood you need, like Sea Point or Gardens.

In rural areas, it’s not always obvious which location to pick. When we were staying in Scarborough on the Cape Peninsula, we had to select “Ocean View” in the app — that’s the name of a neighboring township.

Once you’ve selected a location, you’ll see the scheduled outage times for the next three days. The times can still shift, but in most cases they give you a solid idea of what to expect.

Fifty-five minutes before a scheduled outage, you’ll get a push notification as a heads-up. You can turn this off if you prefer.

Our Tips for Dealing with Power Outages in South Africa

Now for the most important question: how do you handle load shedding in South Africa during your road trip through South Africa? Here are ten practical tips for getting through power outages without stress.

#1 Download the Eskom se Push app: It’s so important we’re saying it twice. This way you’ll always know when the next outage is coming and can plan around it.

#2 Plan your use of appliances like the washing machine and dishwasher. When the power goes out mid-cycle, the machine stops too — and you’ll be stuck with wet laundry.

#3 Rechargeable lights: These are available at virtually every accommodation in South Africa, so you don’t need to bring flashlights from home. Always recharge them right after use — otherwise you might end up with an unintentional candlelit dinner.

#4 Turn off the lights! If you go to sleep during load shedding, switch off all the lights even if there’s no power at that moment. Otherwise they’ll suddenly come back on in the middle of the night. We forgot this ourselves more than once.

#5 Charge a power bank. You should always have a charged phone on hand in case of emergencies. Charge your smartphone before load shedding starts and keep a fully charged power bank ready too.

#6 Book accommodation with a gas stove. If you want to cook for yourself, make sure your place has a gas stove. That way you’re independent of electricity and can cook even during outages.

#7 Remember the 4-way stop rule when driving in South Africa. Many traffic lights go out during load shedding. When vehicles are stopped at an intersection with a dead traffic light, treat it as a four-way stop — everyone must come to a full stop, and the vehicle that arrived first has the right of way.

#8 Check the time before taking the elevator. If load shedding kicks in while you’re in the elevator, it will briefly stop until the generator takes over. If you have claustrophobia, avoid it during outages — and if you’re not sure whether the elevator has generator backup, don’t get in right before a scheduled cut.

#9 Turn off the hair dryer. If you’re blow-drying your hair when the power goes out, turn off the dryer before setting it down — better yet, unplug it. When the power comes back two hours later, a hair dryer left on could start a fire.

#10 Always carry some cash. Card payment works almost everywhere, even during load shedding. But there are a few exceptions, especially when cell service is also poor. Keep a little cash on you just in case.