On Wednesday, Eskom said it is important to distinguish between a power outage and load-shedding.
“When your power is off, don't always assume it is load-shedding. Visit Eskom to see when your area will be affected by load-shedding. Distinguishing between a power outage and load-shedding is important,” it said.
What are blackouts?
Blackouts are unforeseen sequences of events resulting in a cascading loss of generation units and power lines, leading to a complete loss of supply across the country.
Should this unlikely event occur, it could take up to two weeks to restore power nationally.
What is load-shedding?
Load-shedding is due to a shortage in the generational supply, technical faults with power plants, insufficient coal and water reserves and, to a lesser extent, extreme weather events.
It tends to occur in blocks of two hours at a time.
What are power outages?
Power outages are due to equipment failures which trip the local grid, network overload, illegal power connections, sustained periods of poor weather, cable theft or deliberate disconnection.
Power outages are much less predictable and, depending on the problem, the period of loss of power may vary from hours to days.
Is it load-shedding or a power outage? Here's how you can tell the two apart
Image: 123RF/ beercrafter
With the return of stage 2 load-shedding, Eskom has explained how to distinguish between a power outage and load-shedding.
The power utility announced on Tuesday stage 2 load-shedding will be implemented all week due to a shortage of generation capacity owing to breakdowns and delays in returning some units to service.
It said units had broken down at the Arnot, Duvha, Kendal, Medupi and Tutuka power stations and there was a delay in returning a unit at the Hendrina power station to service.
LISTEN | Load-shedding is back until Saturday — day and night
On Wednesday, Eskom said it is important to distinguish between a power outage and load-shedding.
“When your power is off, don't always assume it is load-shedding. Visit Eskom to see when your area will be affected by load-shedding. Distinguishing between a power outage and load-shedding is important,” it said.
What are blackouts?
Blackouts are unforeseen sequences of events resulting in a cascading loss of generation units and power lines, leading to a complete loss of supply across the country.
Should this unlikely event occur, it could take up to two weeks to restore power nationally.
What is load-shedding?
Load-shedding is due to a shortage in the generational supply, technical faults with power plants, insufficient coal and water reserves and, to a lesser extent, extreme weather events.
It tends to occur in blocks of two hours at a time.
What are power outages?
Power outages are due to equipment failures which trip the local grid, network overload, illegal power connections, sustained periods of poor weather, cable theft or deliberate disconnection.
Power outages are much less predictable and, depending on the problem, the period of loss of power may vary from hours to days.
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