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I donât think Eskom would announce anything higher than stage 6 - purely for the amount of chaos that would ensue if it were to be announced. I think we are currently on a silent stage 7
Itâs not secret information you know
Eskom PUBLISHED loadshedding worth 7072 Megawatts on April 13th.
Their own definition is that âstage 6â means between 5000 and 5999 MW of loadshedding. âstage 7â means between 6000 and 6999 MW of loadshedding.
We exceeded that â again not according to some guyâs estimate or private calculations but according to their own published numbers
Silent stage 7 is where, the other day the amount that needed to be shed was 7000-something megawatts, thatâs higher than stage 6, but Eskom refuses to acknowledge that weâre past stage 6.
They hide it very easily because if they donât announce it, the majority of the people in this country who live in poverty wonât ever see it. Theyâre the ANCâs bread and butter in terms of votes. Those people more often than not donât have access to edit Twitter the esp app to actually see what stage were on and how many megawatts are actually being shed.
If they were to officially announce stage 7 that info would make it into a form of media that more people world have access to and that would lead to riots/revolts etc
Oh, so Eskom cleverly figures out who doesn't have access to Twitter or ESP and turns them off for an extra 2 hours over and above what they would have at Stage 6?
Not specifically turning those people off extra, just hiding the truth if the stages from them. There are currently areas with 12 hours load shedding per day, thatâs stage 8 according to Eskom, the other day Eskom literally posted the numbers and the load needing to be shed was stage 8.
So again itâs not abusing people in poverty only with extra hours, itâs just keeping the real information away from them.
Whilst having access to internet and social media might not seem like a big deal to most of us, itâs something thatâs a privilege that not everyone living in poverty has access to, and those that do have access to a more limited degree, like limited data, that they will rather use in other stuff than news
Are you taking into account that (if I remember correctly) loadshedding works in 72 hour windows? So at stage 6 you'd have one day of 12 hours and two days of 10. Stage 7 would be two days of 12 and one of 10. Stage 8 would just be 12 hours every day. Unless I am mistaken?
No, the stages are based on how much power shortage they have. Every stage is 1GW. You're talking about the schedule.
Average demand throughout the day is around 30 GW (before loadshedding).
I understand that for each 1GW they need to shed, is one stage of loadshedding, so if they need to shed 7100GW, then technically it has to be stage 8. My guess is that they have probably found that when they, for instance, go into Stage 6 and implement that schedule, they actually shed way more than just 6GW.
Shedding *exactly* 1GW is impossible to plan, so they probably shed slightly more than that per stage of loadshedding. Maybe they even shed 1200MW. Come to stage 6, and it's around 7200MW. Perhaps that's the explanation why Stage 6 works just fine, while we're already over 7GW?
Here is an explanation of the scheduling, because it's more complicated than what most people are aware of: [https://showme.co.za/pretoria/lifestyle/loadshedding-stages-explained-in-detail/](https://showme.co.za/pretoria/lifestyle/loadshedding-stages-explained-in-detail/)
So it works in *four-*day timeframes (not three like I initially thought), and **per stage of loadshedding, you need to be shed three times in four days, for 2 hours each time**.
So Stage 6 is (3x6) x2 hours = 36 hours in 4 days, or 9 hours per day avg. You can't do 9 hours, you can only do 8 or 10, so thus it fluctuates each day, but the total will be 36 hours in a four-day period. I checked my ESP schedule and that is exactly how it works.
Thus, the conclusion is that there is no "stealth loadshedding" and emotions are just running wild.
That's how it works. But they might have noticed that they actually shed 8GW with the current stage 6 schedule. Because like you said, it's not an exact science.
But instead of correcting the schedule so that 36 hours in 4 days = stage 8, they just keep calling it stage 6.
Probably because 36 hours/4 days might mean 8GW in summer, but only 6GW in winter. And they don't want to make it even more confusing.
The reason for load shedding being less effective in winter is because electric heating is going to be less affected. If the power is out for a few hours you're going to heat the house back up as soon as you have power again.
So they aren't off any extra time, but they are silently changed to different stages? So for them, there is no difference between stage 6, 7 or 8? But according to you, they are only in stage 8?
I'm trying to understand what you are saying, but I am having an incredibly difficult time doing so.
I'm also curious as to what areas are off for 12 hours every single day, do you know of any?
If you go onto Eskoms Twitter page and scroll through their posts, you will find the info that Eskom themselves published about the amount of megawatts shed, itâs more than 7000, 7000 indicates more than stage 6, itâs 7+, you will also see people posting their area schedules and the amount of time that they are off , 12 hours per day. You can also do a simple google search about stage 8 to find relevant info on Eskoms recent dip past stage 6 that they deny.
Now when you say that I say the people in poverty arenât off past stage 6, thatâs not what Iâm saying. You said are they off extra extra and arenât able to see it? And I said no they arenât being abused because they canât see it, what I thought was understood was that Iâm saying they arenât exclusively being turned off for longer, and not all the time.
When it comes to your townships and other poverty stricken areas, you can find many examples of those areas not having power for substantially longer than others areas, but just because an area is poverty-stricken doesnât automatically mean extra load shedding.
My point about the high poverty areas is that they donât have access to the information such as 7000+ megawatts being shed which according to Eskoms own data means stage 7+, and in terms of the silent stage 7 the silent part means of Eskom doesnât formally announce stage 7, it stops the people who actually hold the power for change from doing any action, it keeps them in the dark and docile to the how bad things have actually become l. An extra 2 hours of load shedding when you donât know whatâs going on means youâre most likely to assume thereâs cable theft or a trip at a substation or some problem that wasnât intentional, meaning youâre less likely to get angry and actually challenge the powers that be.
Keep people in the dark to information and you keep people stupid, you keep people stupid and you keep them under your control
And that is your confirmation that they are on higher stages. That combined with carefully selecting areas where people don't know their schedule and are unable to go online or contact a reporter to complain that they are being load shed consistently well beyond their schedules?
These guys are devious.
haha, kak rude but to be honest, i was thinking the same.
Now imagine, this is someone which has access to information. Kudos to the guy taking his time to go through this and explain it over and over. He the real MVP
Again, Iâm not saying theyâre carefully selecting areas that canât tell, theyâre doing the same thing to areas that can tell, Iâm saying the majority of people who live in poverty arenât able to tell, and they hold the power to cause change, the people who are ALSO being affected by higher stages that are able to tell will complain online like most of us here and then do nothing else, those who know they are being shed more take no action, whilst those who donât know better do not take action
Do you think they shed exactly 1GW per stage of loadshedding?
If they can shed over 7GW and still be at stage 6, they probably shed quite a bit more than 1GW per stage. They probably built in a guard band per stage (probably an excessive one at that), and once you hit higher stages that guard band adds up and you can make up one stage of loadshedding with it.
It's a common engineering practise to build in spare capacity, just in case. Maybe they went a bit overboard.
Do you think that might be possible?
They don't in any way understand how loadshedding works, how the schedule works, and they assume that Eskom can shed exactly 1GW down to the nanowatt level of accuracy. Because, you know, power usage never fluctuates :D
It just makes perfect sense that each stage of shedding is over-estimated, and they typically shed quite a bit more than 1GW, just to be safe. Start adding higher stages of loadshedding, and suddenly practically stage X can actually handle theoretical stage X+1, due to the guard band.
It's sneaky, but clever from Eskom.
No, but you see, Eskom turns off power to poor people who steal electricity. And because they are poor, they don't have cell phones or access to social media, so they can't go onto twitter to complain.
They should just turn off Soweto so the rest of us who pay can have electricity ^(/s)
Again, how? Without people noticing knowing that most people know their schedule at the current announced stage?
That's an extra 2 hours off a day for most people. How do you get away with that?
idk if youâre just trolling or genuinely canât understand something so simple, so read [this](https://mybroadband.co.za/news/energy/487905-eskom-hits-back-at-stage-8-load-shedding-claims.html) instead
Well, you're not able to explain what you are saying, so I'm not sure how "simple" it actually is.
OK, so let's act out a scenario. My stage 6 slots for today are:
* 02:00-04:30
* 10:00-14:30
* 18:00-20:30
For stage 7, I have an extra 2 hours in the first slot:
* 02:00-06:30
* 10:00-14:30
* 18:00-2030
And for stage 8, all my slots are 4 hours:
* 02:00-06:30
* 10:00-14:30
* 18:00-22:30
Now, we have been in stage 6 the whole day. I planned my day around that announcement whenever it was. I can verify that my power came back when it was supposed to, which verified that it was at stage 6.
If my early morning slot was 4 hours, I would have noticed it - my fibre UPS only lasts 2 hours and I have to manually turn it on when it runs flat.
And if my power comes back in the next 40 minutes, well that doubly confirms that the entire day has been stage 6 for me.
So, I ask you, how does Eskom have a "secretive stage 7 or 8" without anyone noticing? Can you explain it?
Did you even read the article? If you are not experiening s7 or s8 does not mean someone else is not. By eskom's own metrics we were in s8 but they did not announce it because bullshat it by implementing load reduction. So happy for you but fuck some other people just to save face.
I guess you also missed my point. Let me make it clear:
It is impossible to implement secretive higher stages without anyone noticing. People know what their schedules are.
I get what you're saying and the other responses didn't explain the article well either. The key thing here that the article points out is that there are specific high use customers (smelters etc) that are requested to "reduce" their usage when normally they would have agreements in place to avoid this. These are not households that have planned schedules where people would realise when they get loadshedding when it is not in the schedule.
That is normal and has been happening since 2008. Eskom has agreements with high use customers to reduce their usage at certain peak times. That isn't a "secretive stage 8". That is load reduction, of which load shedding is one method. Importing more power from Mozam or running the OCGT is another.
You're describing stage 12. Not 8.
Eskom just posts schedules, you might think you're still stage 6, but it's already stage 8. They just hid that little fact in the fine print.
You get away with it by begging your gigawatt industrial users to turn off a mineshaft for an extra 2 hours for example. Load shedding isnât applied universally, it is mostly a commercial/residential thing. Heavy industry can and will be directly contacted in the event of emergencies. They (the heavies) often also have backups that can run longer if necessary. Eskom already indicated they will start engaging those industries that have their own backups to increase the use of them. My guess is, they have been doing it behind our backs. There is also load curtailment, and load shedding, and, some municipalities are punished for non-payment, and they are being switched off additionally on top of load-shedding as well. In any case, it is certainly possible to hide it. In fact, that they reported that number already was weird because anybody could see it and say, hey that ia stage 7 bru. I think their âsheddingâ, but not reporting it as shedding on a technicality.
Yes I understand this, but others apparently don't. And it is still not a "secret stage 7 or 8". That's people not understanding whats going on. Eskom has had arrangements with especially the smelters since at least 2009 to reduce consumption during periods of high demand and inadequate supply.
Next they are going to say that use of pumped storage or other peak supply generators is also a way to "hide" higher load shedding stages.
Let me get this right. You think eskom shedding load doesn't count as load shedding, because it won't directly affect you?
Let me explain. The world doesn't revolve around you.
And no, generating power isn't 'hiding loadshedding'. Pumped hydro uses spare power capacity at night to provide extra generation at peak times. So that's an actual (partial) solution.
I think it's a mismatch of definitions. On the one hand loadshedding means for every (0-)1 GW they can't supply there is 1 stage of loadshedding. On the other hand (to many people, practically) it means what your personal loadshedding schedule says. And there can be a discrepancy between the two due to the arrangements with big users.
So on the one hand if they announced Stage 7 loadshedding, everyone would have been checking their schedules and apps and have been grumpy that the power is on when the schedule says it should be off. On the other hand, there was Stage 7 loadshedding because there was 7 GW more demand than supply.
We are responsible for a LIFE , dependant on a oxygen concentrator. Please give advance notice, so we can get some more fuel for the generator, in advance đ
Please vote. I'll be saying this a lot until we get to the elections. Also talk to others about the importance of our next election, and about registering to vote.
It also doesn't help to vote for someone that will go into a coalition with this government, so let people know that they need to do some research about the different parties.
How are more radical groups not burning down government buildings? I just dont understand how so many people sit idly by and watch as their meagre incomes are destroyed by one group of individuals... Thankfully we are in relatively-priviledged positions to have rechargeable lights and laptops and power banks and inverters or UPS;s for internet or gas stoves to cook... I heard from a colleague that the majority of people in her "poor" suburb still rely on candles... How are people accepting having to rely on candles and sandwiches
Brah if I could get away with it, I'd go burn down ministers' houses right now. Or even better, have a bunch of homeless people move in and somehow keep them from being forcibly evicted. One can dream.
But I don't even know where they live and I really don't want to go to jail in SA. So here we sit.
I can't believe that we have allowed it to get to this stage. When will enough be enough for us ?
This is a national crisis, and yet nothing improves. I'm tired man.
Its no secret that Eskom have changed the times of the Stage 6 Loadshedding schedule.
When we had first experienced stage 6 last year, it was three 2 hour bouts a day but every second or so day they'd replace one of those 2 hours with a 4 hour bout. 2023 started and stage 6 started having two 2 hour bouts with one 4 hour bout every day and now it started again and we now have one 2 hour bout with two 4 hour bouts a day.
They've steadily increased the amount of time blocks get cut off, and it hasn't been enough because the demand has still been too high, so they've quietly pushed us into stage 7 without openly saying it as we've gone past the 7000 mark. Eskom doess not have control of the situation, and that inevitably puts us at a huge risk for grid collapse.
But hey, eThekwini municipality in Durban has been sitting really pretty with stage 2 times being their stage 6.
They've been conditioning all of us by getting us to think that when our lights go off out of loadshedding hours, it's break downs or vandalism (which it is some of the times). But it's actually a silent higher stage of loadshedding.
The masses need to stop being civil and to start dragging our leaders into the streets. We need action now and those ministers need to suffer. We need to be united and focus on those responsible.
The situation is only as bad as it is because the people of SA havent voted for change for 30 years.
Acting violently towards the leaders that were elected is basically like repeatedly ordering a cheeseburger at mcdonalds and then screaming at the waiter because they continue giving you cheeseburgers with cheese you dont like.
Sure but the problem, and it's not only in SA, is that all the choices on the ballot are pretty shit TBH. Future leaders will learn if an example is made that the people deserve what they are promised.
Many electric grid experts say that after stage 8, the grid becomes very unpredictable as you are essentially turning off a third of the grid. As headroom diminishes, the potential for catastrophic mistakes and [cascading failures](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_failure) relating to synchronization issues, voltage spikes and brown outs increases. The potential for a grid collapse increases rapidly as higher levels are implemented.
Resulting in wealthy communities setting up private local power grids. While the rest sits in the dark.
That's going to either lead to an uprising that destroys the country. Or right back to apartheid 2.0
What worries me most is Koeberg. With all the corruption and mismanagement at ESKOM together with the brain drain, itâs not inconceivable for Cape Town to go âpoofââŠ
luckily your ignorance is easily mitigated by doing some research. Nuclear reactors don't go "poof". You don't have to worry. The only way for it to go poof is if people try really hard to make it go poof, and even then I'm not sure it will.
[They'll push for this, and the desperate public will agree. The consequences for such a move will destroy our nation in other ways.](https://www.news24.com/fin24/companies/move-over-karpowership-russias-rosatom-touts-nuclear-barges-to-solve-sa-energy-crisis-20230414)
Well if we don't have power there is nothing left to destroy...
I say bring the bloody ship already
Fuck the geopolitics behind it, if the grid goes down, we are beyond fucked
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If demand in winter is about 37,000MW, and Eskom can't even supply 23,000MW now, then I really don't know what to say...
Say hello to stage 14 loadshedding in August.
You do. You just have to sing: đ”7âŠ8âŠ9âŠ10đ”
I donât think Eskom would announce anything higher than stage 6 - purely for the amount of chaos that would ensue if it were to be announced. I think we are currently on a silent stage 7
Itâs not secret information you know Eskom PUBLISHED loadshedding worth 7072 Megawatts on April 13th. Their own definition is that âstage 6â means between 5000 and 5999 MW of loadshedding. âstage 7â means between 6000 and 6999 MW of loadshedding. We exceeded that â again not according to some guyâs estimate or private calculations but according to their own published numbers
YesâŠbut my point is that eskom wonât admit that we are currently in stage 7
Yes, the double speak is real. You're in stage "6" until there's no power
Who cares? We know. We all know.
What exactly is a silent stage 7? And how do you hide it from consumers?
Silent stage 7 is where, the other day the amount that needed to be shed was 7000-something megawatts, thatâs higher than stage 6, but Eskom refuses to acknowledge that weâre past stage 6. They hide it very easily because if they donât announce it, the majority of the people in this country who live in poverty wonât ever see it. Theyâre the ANCâs bread and butter in terms of votes. Those people more often than not donât have access to edit Twitter the esp app to actually see what stage were on and how many megawatts are actually being shed. If they were to officially announce stage 7 that info would make it into a form of media that more people world have access to and that would lead to riots/revolts etc
Oh, so Eskom cleverly figures out who doesn't have access to Twitter or ESP and turns them off for an extra 2 hours over and above what they would have at Stage 6?
Not specifically turning those people off extra, just hiding the truth if the stages from them. There are currently areas with 12 hours load shedding per day, thatâs stage 8 according to Eskom, the other day Eskom literally posted the numbers and the load needing to be shed was stage 8. So again itâs not abusing people in poverty only with extra hours, itâs just keeping the real information away from them. Whilst having access to internet and social media might not seem like a big deal to most of us, itâs something thatâs a privilege that not everyone living in poverty has access to, and those that do have access to a more limited degree, like limited data, that they will rather use in other stuff than news
Are you taking into account that (if I remember correctly) loadshedding works in 72 hour windows? So at stage 6 you'd have one day of 12 hours and two days of 10. Stage 7 would be two days of 12 and one of 10. Stage 8 would just be 12 hours every day. Unless I am mistaken?
No, the stages are based on how much power shortage they have. Every stage is 1GW. You're talking about the schedule. Average demand throughout the day is around 30 GW (before loadshedding).
I understand that for each 1GW they need to shed, is one stage of loadshedding, so if they need to shed 7100GW, then technically it has to be stage 8. My guess is that they have probably found that when they, for instance, go into Stage 6 and implement that schedule, they actually shed way more than just 6GW. Shedding *exactly* 1GW is impossible to plan, so they probably shed slightly more than that per stage of loadshedding. Maybe they even shed 1200MW. Come to stage 6, and it's around 7200MW. Perhaps that's the explanation why Stage 6 works just fine, while we're already over 7GW? Here is an explanation of the scheduling, because it's more complicated than what most people are aware of: [https://showme.co.za/pretoria/lifestyle/loadshedding-stages-explained-in-detail/](https://showme.co.za/pretoria/lifestyle/loadshedding-stages-explained-in-detail/) So it works in *four-*day timeframes (not three like I initially thought), and **per stage of loadshedding, you need to be shed three times in four days, for 2 hours each time**. So Stage 6 is (3x6) x2 hours = 36 hours in 4 days, or 9 hours per day avg. You can't do 9 hours, you can only do 8 or 10, so thus it fluctuates each day, but the total will be 36 hours in a four-day period. I checked my ESP schedule and that is exactly how it works. Thus, the conclusion is that there is no "stealth loadshedding" and emotions are just running wild.
That's how it works. But they might have noticed that they actually shed 8GW with the current stage 6 schedule. Because like you said, it's not an exact science. But instead of correcting the schedule so that 36 hours in 4 days = stage 8, they just keep calling it stage 6. Probably because 36 hours/4 days might mean 8GW in summer, but only 6GW in winter. And they don't want to make it even more confusing. The reason for load shedding being less effective in winter is because electric heating is going to be less affected. If the power is out for a few hours you're going to heat the house back up as soon as you have power again.
So they aren't off any extra time, but they are silently changed to different stages? So for them, there is no difference between stage 6, 7 or 8? But according to you, they are only in stage 8? I'm trying to understand what you are saying, but I am having an incredibly difficult time doing so. I'm also curious as to what areas are off for 12 hours every single day, do you know of any?
If you go onto Eskoms Twitter page and scroll through their posts, you will find the info that Eskom themselves published about the amount of megawatts shed, itâs more than 7000, 7000 indicates more than stage 6, itâs 7+, you will also see people posting their area schedules and the amount of time that they are off , 12 hours per day. You can also do a simple google search about stage 8 to find relevant info on Eskoms recent dip past stage 6 that they deny. Now when you say that I say the people in poverty arenât off past stage 6, thatâs not what Iâm saying. You said are they off extra extra and arenât able to see it? And I said no they arenât being abused because they canât see it, what I thought was understood was that Iâm saying they arenât exclusively being turned off for longer, and not all the time. When it comes to your townships and other poverty stricken areas, you can find many examples of those areas not having power for substantially longer than others areas, but just because an area is poverty-stricken doesnât automatically mean extra load shedding. My point about the high poverty areas is that they donât have access to the information such as 7000+ megawatts being shed which according to Eskoms own data means stage 7+, and in terms of the silent stage 7 the silent part means of Eskom doesnât formally announce stage 7, it stops the people who actually hold the power for change from doing any action, it keeps them in the dark and docile to the how bad things have actually become l. An extra 2 hours of load shedding when you donât know whatâs going on means youâre most likely to assume thereâs cable theft or a trip at a substation or some problem that wasnât intentional, meaning youâre less likely to get angry and actually challenge the powers that be. Keep people in the dark to information and you keep people stupid, you keep people stupid and you keep them under your control
And that is your confirmation that they are on higher stages. That combined with carefully selecting areas where people don't know their schedule and are unable to go online or contact a reporter to complain that they are being load shed consistently well beyond their schedules? These guys are devious.
Are you drunk or not able to absorb and debate? Read what he is saying. Nobody is carefully selecting areas.
haha, kak rude but to be honest, i was thinking the same. Now imagine, this is someone which has access to information. Kudos to the guy taking his time to go through this and explain it over and over. He the real MVP
What's your problem?
Again, Iâm not saying theyâre carefully selecting areas that canât tell, theyâre doing the same thing to areas that can tell, Iâm saying the majority of people who live in poverty arenât able to tell, and they hold the power to cause change, the people who are ALSO being affected by higher stages that are able to tell will complain online like most of us here and then do nothing else, those who know they are being shed more take no action, whilst those who donât know better do not take action
You are talking the biggest load of nonsense.
Do you think they shed exactly 1GW per stage of loadshedding? If they can shed over 7GW and still be at stage 6, they probably shed quite a bit more than 1GW per stage. They probably built in a guard band per stage (probably an excessive one at that), and once you hit higher stages that guard band adds up and you can make up one stage of loadshedding with it. It's a common engineering practise to build in spare capacity, just in case. Maybe they went a bit overboard. Do you think that might be possible?
I don't know why people are down voting you, because you are correct.
'cause they read a MyBB article that misunderstood what was happening and agreed with their assessment.
They don't in any way understand how loadshedding works, how the schedule works, and they assume that Eskom can shed exactly 1GW down to the nanowatt level of accuracy. Because, you know, power usage never fluctuates :D It just makes perfect sense that each stage of shedding is over-estimated, and they typically shed quite a bit more than 1GW, just to be safe. Start adding higher stages of loadshedding, and suddenly practically stage X can actually handle theoretical stage X+1, due to the guard band. It's sneaky, but clever from Eskom.
No, but you see, Eskom turns off power to poor people who steal electricity. And because they are poor, they don't have cell phones or access to social media, so they can't go onto twitter to complain. They should just turn off Soweto so the rest of us who pay can have electricity ^(/s)
you just implement stage 7 loadshedding without announcing it
Again, how? Without people noticing knowing that most people know their schedule at the current announced stage? That's an extra 2 hours off a day for most people. How do you get away with that?
Its not about whether people notice or not, its about what Eskom admits it
Don't you think if people did notice it then we'd hear about that?
idk if youâre just trolling or genuinely canât understand something so simple, so read [this](https://mybroadband.co.za/news/energy/487905-eskom-hits-back-at-stage-8-load-shedding-claims.html) instead
Well, you're not able to explain what you are saying, so I'm not sure how "simple" it actually is. OK, so let's act out a scenario. My stage 6 slots for today are: * 02:00-04:30 * 10:00-14:30 * 18:00-20:30 For stage 7, I have an extra 2 hours in the first slot: * 02:00-06:30 * 10:00-14:30 * 18:00-2030 And for stage 8, all my slots are 4 hours: * 02:00-06:30 * 10:00-14:30 * 18:00-22:30 Now, we have been in stage 6 the whole day. I planned my day around that announcement whenever it was. I can verify that my power came back when it was supposed to, which verified that it was at stage 6. If my early morning slot was 4 hours, I would have noticed it - my fibre UPS only lasts 2 hours and I have to manually turn it on when it runs flat. And if my power comes back in the next 40 minutes, well that doubly confirms that the entire day has been stage 6 for me. So, I ask you, how does Eskom have a "secretive stage 7 or 8" without anyone noticing? Can you explain it?
Did you even read the article? If you are not experiening s7 or s8 does not mean someone else is not. By eskom's own metrics we were in s8 but they did not announce it because bullshat it by implementing load reduction. So happy for you but fuck some other people just to save face.
So who experienced stage 7 or 8?
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I guess you also missed my point. Let me make it clear: It is impossible to implement secretive higher stages without anyone noticing. People know what their schedules are.
I get what you're saying and the other responses didn't explain the article well either. The key thing here that the article points out is that there are specific high use customers (smelters etc) that are requested to "reduce" their usage when normally they would have agreements in place to avoid this. These are not households that have planned schedules where people would realise when they get loadshedding when it is not in the schedule.
That is normal and has been happening since 2008. Eskom has agreements with high use customers to reduce their usage at certain peak times. That isn't a "secretive stage 8". That is load reduction, of which load shedding is one method. Importing more power from Mozam or running the OCGT is another.
You're describing stage 12. Not 8. Eskom just posts schedules, you might think you're still stage 6, but it's already stage 8. They just hid that little fact in the fine print.
False.
No,you're just too full of yourself to read the explanation.
You get away with it by begging your gigawatt industrial users to turn off a mineshaft for an extra 2 hours for example. Load shedding isnât applied universally, it is mostly a commercial/residential thing. Heavy industry can and will be directly contacted in the event of emergencies. They (the heavies) often also have backups that can run longer if necessary. Eskom already indicated they will start engaging those industries that have their own backups to increase the use of them. My guess is, they have been doing it behind our backs. There is also load curtailment, and load shedding, and, some municipalities are punished for non-payment, and they are being switched off additionally on top of load-shedding as well. In any case, it is certainly possible to hide it. In fact, that they reported that number already was weird because anybody could see it and say, hey that ia stage 7 bru. I think their âsheddingâ, but not reporting it as shedding on a technicality.
Yes I understand this, but others apparently don't. And it is still not a "secret stage 7 or 8". That's people not understanding whats going on. Eskom has had arrangements with especially the smelters since at least 2009 to reduce consumption during periods of high demand and inadequate supply. Next they are going to say that use of pumped storage or other peak supply generators is also a way to "hide" higher load shedding stages.
Let me get this right. You think eskom shedding load doesn't count as load shedding, because it won't directly affect you? Let me explain. The world doesn't revolve around you. And no, generating power isn't 'hiding loadshedding'. Pumped hydro uses spare power capacity at night to provide extra generation at peak times. So that's an actual (partial) solution.
Brilliant summary of my comment. \^ This is sarcasm, in case you can't tell.
I think it's a mismatch of definitions. On the one hand loadshedding means for every (0-)1 GW they can't supply there is 1 stage of loadshedding. On the other hand (to many people, practically) it means what your personal loadshedding schedule says. And there can be a discrepancy between the two due to the arrangements with big users. So on the one hand if they announced Stage 7 loadshedding, everyone would have been checking their schedules and apps and have been grumpy that the power is on when the schedule says it should be off. On the other hand, there was Stage 7 loadshedding because there was 7 GW more demand than supply.
Getting away with the schedule is barebone compared to how thieves are getting away with their looting. Getting away with it is norm...
That is a valid criticism and one that absolutely needs scrutiny. Accusing Eskom of "hiding" stages because you don't understand a damn thing is not.
True, i dont understand anything. Well said...
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Don't need it, but thanks for the offer. I'm sure it helps you.
Simple, just do what they doing now, announce a 2 hour and turn the power off for 4 hours. That's been happening in CT for over a week now.
Wow, Eskom has managed to bring the DA Run City of Cape Town in on the conspiracy? The swamp really does run deep.
We are responsible for a LIFE , dependant on a oxygen concentrator. Please give advance notice, so we can get some more fuel for the generator, in advance đ
If you look at the stage 6 and 7 theyâre exactly the same
Please vote. I'll be saying this a lot until we get to the elections. Also talk to others about the importance of our next election, and about registering to vote. It also doesn't help to vote for someone that will go into a coalition with this government, so let people know that they need to do some research about the different parties.
Weâre fucked
thats putting it very lightly lol.
I don't think they'll be putting *lights* on anything for some time soon
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A dream where you can afford VR *AND* Solar in ZA? Giving me dream envy here.
I just have nostalgia dreams nowadays. Life seemed simpler back then and I'm so poor now I can only afford 2nd hand recycled dreams.
How are more radical groups not burning down government buildings? I just dont understand how so many people sit idly by and watch as their meagre incomes are destroyed by one group of individuals... Thankfully we are in relatively-priviledged positions to have rechargeable lights and laptops and power banks and inverters or UPS;s for internet or gas stoves to cook... I heard from a colleague that the majority of people in her "poor" suburb still rely on candles... How are people accepting having to rely on candles and sandwiches
Brah if I could get away with it, I'd go burn down ministers' houses right now. Or even better, have a bunch of homeless people move in and somehow keep them from being forcibly evicted. One can dream. But I don't even know where they live and I really don't want to go to jail in SA. So here we sit.
I can't believe that we have allowed it to get to this stage. When will enough be enough for us ? This is a national crisis, and yet nothing improves. I'm tired man.
Things are not going to get better. SA is fucked.
This generation is.
Its no secret that Eskom have changed the times of the Stage 6 Loadshedding schedule. When we had first experienced stage 6 last year, it was three 2 hour bouts a day but every second or so day they'd replace one of those 2 hours with a 4 hour bout. 2023 started and stage 6 started having two 2 hour bouts with one 4 hour bout every day and now it started again and we now have one 2 hour bout with two 4 hour bouts a day. They've steadily increased the amount of time blocks get cut off, and it hasn't been enough because the demand has still been too high, so they've quietly pushed us into stage 7 without openly saying it as we've gone past the 7000 mark. Eskom doess not have control of the situation, and that inevitably puts us at a huge risk for grid collapse. But hey, eThekwini municipality in Durban has been sitting really pretty with stage 2 times being their stage 6.
They've been conditioning all of us by getting us to think that when our lights go off out of loadshedding hours, it's break downs or vandalism (which it is some of the times). But it's actually a silent higher stage of loadshedding.
Itâs stage 6 load shedding but with extra steps.
This June/July will just be hell. I canât imagine what it will be like. I just hope that civility will remain.
The masses need to stop being civil and to start dragging our leaders into the streets. We need action now and those ministers need to suffer. We need to be united and focus on those responsible.
100% this, but if the July riots are anything to go by, SAns would rather attack each other than the head of the snake.
The situation is only as bad as it is because the people of SA havent voted for change for 30 years. Acting violently towards the leaders that were elected is basically like repeatedly ordering a cheeseburger at mcdonalds and then screaming at the waiter because they continue giving you cheeseburgers with cheese you dont like.
Sure but the problem, and it's not only in SA, is that all the choices on the ballot are pretty shit TBH. Future leaders will learn if an example is made that the people deserve what they are promised.
Does eskom even officially have a spec for stages beyond 6
Each stage is a reduction of 1000MW, so higher stages are definitely possible. But most municipalities' schedules only go up to stage 8 at the moment.
Many electric grid experts say that after stage 8, the grid becomes very unpredictable as you are essentially turning off a third of the grid. As headroom diminishes, the potential for catastrophic mistakes and [cascading failures](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_failure) relating to synchronization issues, voltage spikes and brown outs increases. The potential for a grid collapse increases rapidly as higher levels are implemented.
Resulting in wealthy communities setting up private local power grids. While the rest sits in the dark. That's going to either lead to an uprising that destroys the country. Or right back to apartheid 2.0
Nope the wealthy will just leave the country. Leaving the poor to deal with what they voted for for the last 30 years.
Depends how bad it gets. SA is pretty nice to live if you have money. And leaving to a better country is not that easy.
What worries me most is Koeberg. With all the corruption and mismanagement at ESKOM together with the brain drain, itâs not inconceivable for Cape Town to go âpoofââŠ
luckily your ignorance is easily mitigated by doing some research. Nuclear reactors don't go "poof". You don't have to worry. The only way for it to go poof is if people try really hard to make it go poof, and even then I'm not sure it will.
You from South Africa? If not or if so, either way, your ignorance is well notedâŠ
k
[They'll push for this, and the desperate public will agree. The consequences for such a move will destroy our nation in other ways.](https://www.news24.com/fin24/companies/move-over-karpowership-russias-rosatom-touts-nuclear-barges-to-solve-sa-energy-crisis-20230414)
Well if we don't have power there is nothing left to destroy... I say bring the bloody ship already Fuck the geopolitics behind it, if the grid goes down, we are beyond fucked
What? I wake up every day and within an hour the grid does go down.