2021 is going to be a dark year, that’s if you don’t have a generator. Eskom announced the return of load shedding stage 2 on the 18thJanuary 2020.
In a statement released on Sunday, 17 January, Eskom wrote:
“Regrettably, as the return to service of some generation units has been delayed, as well as the need to manage the emergency generation reserves and identified risks to the power system, stage 2 load shedding will be implemented from 05:00 tomorrow (Monday)morning. The system remains constrained and vulnerable, and Eskom will give a further update on the power situation tomorrow afternoon.”
Rolling blackouts throughout 2021.
Eskom anticipates electricity shortages on a weekly basis for the next three months and will continue with the planned power outages, cutting 2,000 megawatts from the grid on Monday. Economist and energy analyst, Lungile Mashele spoke to Kaya Breakfast recently and reminded Kaya 959 listeners that Eskom was not facing these problems for the first time. “At the very earliest we can anticipate load shedding until 2024. We have been living with it for 13 years now, it looks set to continue.”
Listen to the full conversation here:
Also Read: Kaya 959 presenters working from home in 2020(Opens in a new browser tab)
Survive this year’s load shedding by doing the following:
Buy a camping gas stove. With this, you can boil water and prepare your food when the lights go off.
Buy rechargeable lights. Get yourself rechargeable battery-powered lights for every room in your home, these will come very handy when the power goes away.
Stay charged up. Always have your appliances charged, and keep a backup power bank that’s only for load shedding, this way you’ll always be connected.
Keep it cool with bottles of frozen water. Fill plastic bottles with water and put them in your freezer. This way, when the power is out for a couple of hours, you can take it out of your deep freezer and put it in your refrigerator to keep your food cooler for longer.
Have a load shedding survival kit. Make a list of all the things you wish you had in previous load sheddings, get them and put them in your lad shedding survival kit, this could be snacks, playing cards, board games, charcoal for a quick braai, even candles for a candlelit dinner.
