Isn’t it frustrating when the lights suddenly go off without any notification from your load-shedding app. Can Grid watch apps be wrong?
1) Why is there load shedding?
Scheduled load shedding happens when Eskom does not have enough power to supply the demand on the national grid. If Eskom did not implement load shedding, especially during the evening peak times, then the national grid would collapse entirely and the country wouldn’t have any electricity for 2 to 3 weeks to allow for time to repair the grid. By rotating and shedding the load in a planned and controlled manner, the system remains stable.
2) How does load shedding works?
Eskom decides when load shedding should happen based on statistics and studies of the previous demand. Eskom then produces a staged and balanced rotational system used to rotate the load shedding process. Based on the possibility of risk and to ensure that it is applied in a fair and equitable manner, Eskom developed:
- Stage 1 allows for up to 1000 MW of the national load to be shed.
- Stage 2 allows for up to 2000 MW of the national load to be shed.
- Stage 3 allows for up to 4000 MW of the national load to be shed.
A Stage 3B and a stage 4 even exist for Cape Town and Buffalo City in case of extreme risk of collapse.
Eskom sends its load shedding schedule to its Distribution Regional Control Centres, 126 Municipalities and its key Industrial Customers. These different players are then asked to switch off the power in the grid at the predetermined time and stage.
3) How do Grid Watch Apps work?
If asked, Eskom sends its load shedding schedule to App or website developers, who can then warn the population. So Grid Watch Apps are supposed to be reliable. However, sometimes because of unpredicted rush in demand or drop in supply, Eskom has to organise an emergency load shedding and has therefore no time to warn anyone.
In addition there is no central database of load shedding schedules for all of South Africa. So App developers have to manually collect every Municipality’s data, and gather them in one place. That’s why the Grid Watch apps do not cover all of South Africa.
Conclusion
Grid Watch Apps update their content by receiving Eskom’s information and load shedding schedules and then gather all of the information in one place. Eskom try to ensure the validity of each schedule, but unfortunately they can’t guaranty that the schedules will be respected and that Eskom won’t switch off the grid for an emergency. This is why sometimes your App is not accurate for your area.
Read more about our ranking of the best load shedding mobile apps here!