Load shedding outages today

If you have landed on this page, the power has probably just gone off and you are not sure whether it is load shedding, an Eskom fault, a problem with your municipality or just your own circuit breaker. This page is built for that exact moment: a quick way to tell the difference, report what is happening at your address, and see if other people nearby are in the same situation.

We do not publish load shedding schedules or planning timetables here. For that, the official source is the EskomSePush app or the Eskom website. We focus on the live picture: where outages are being reported right now, what an actual load shedding event looks like compared to a fault, and how to log a real issue with your distributor. For the full structure of the South African electricity market, see the main power outage page for South Africa.

• What load shedding is and what it is not
• Where the South African grid stands today after 341 days without cuts
• How to tell if your outage is load shedding or something else
• Where to check the official Eskom status and report your outage

Load shedding is not a fault, it is a controlled disconnection

Load shedding is the deliberate, rotating disconnection of parts of the grid used by Eskom and the municipalities to balance supply and demand when generation cannot cover total consumption. It is not an equipment failure on your side and it is not a fault on the network. It is a planning tool used to avoid a much larger event: an uncontrolled, nationwide grid collapse that would take weeks to recover from.

Eskom organises load shedding in stages, numbered from 1 to 8. Each stage represents an additional 1 000 MW removed from the grid. At stage 1, only a small share of customers loses power for two to four hours a day. At stage 6 or above, the cuts become longer and more frequent, sometimes several blocks per day. Stages 7 and 8 are reserved for severe emergencies and have rarely been used.

Each block typically lasts two hours, sometimes four. The schedule rotates between zones so that no single area carries the cuts permanently. The actual schedule that applies to your address depends on your municipality and your assigned block, not on Eskom directly.

341 days without load shedding by late April 2026

The country went through its worst load shedding years in 2022 and 2023, with stage 6 cuts becoming routine. From 2024 onward, the situation improved sharply. As of late April 2026, South Africa had recorded 341 consecutive days without load shedding, only 26 hours of cuts were imposed in April and May 2025 combined, and the official Eskom Winter Outlook 2026 projected no load shedding through August 2026 in its base case.

The Energy Availability Factor, which measures the share of installed generation actually producing, reached 69.14% in December 2025, up from 56.57% a year earlier. Generation Recovery Plan investments, the return to service of Medupi Unit 4 and Koeberg Unit 1, and rapid growth of private solar and wind capacity have all contributed to the rebound.

Load shedding has not disappeared as a possibility. If unplanned generation breakdowns exceed 16 000 MW during the 2026 winter peak demand period, Eskom would resume cuts at stages 2 to 6. The high-risk scenario remains officially on the table between 18 May and 12 August 2026. Any return to load shedding is announced publicly by Eskom and relayed by news media before it starts.

Is it load shedding, or something else?

Several signs point one way or the other. If most of them check out, your outage is probably load shedding. If they do not, it is more likely a fault, a planned maintenance event or an issue with your own installation.

Eskom has announced a load shedding stage today

Load shedding always starts with a public announcement, several hours in advance. If no announcement of an active stage has been made today by Eskom or relayed by national media, your outage is almost certainly not load shedding. The Eskom system status page, the MyEskom Customer App and the EskomSePush app all show the current stage.

The outage lasts close to two hours, then comes back

A load shedding block typically lasts two hours, sometimes four. If the power has been off for less than ten minutes or for more than five hours, it is unlikely to be load shedding. A short interruption is usually a fault somewhere on the network, while a very long outage often indicates a substation issue, a cable break or a planned maintenance event lasting longer than expected.

Your whole street or block is in the dark, not just your house

Load shedding cuts power for everyone on the same feeder, which usually means the whole street or even several adjacent blocks. If you are the only home affected while your neighbours still have power, the problem is almost certainly inside your installation: a tripped circuit breaker, a burnt-out fuse, or an issue with your own meter. Check your distribution board before doing anything else.

The cut falls exactly on a published two or four-hour slot

Load shedding blocks start and end on standardised slots, for example 06:00-08:00 or 18:00-22:00. If your outage began at an unusual time, say 14:37, and ends some random minutes later, it is more likely a fault than a scheduled cut. A real load shedding event starts and ends almost exactly on the slot boundaries set by your municipality.

Report your outage and see if neighbours are affected

When the power goes off and you do not know whether to wait or to call a technician, the quickest signal usually comes from other users in your area. The GeoBlackout community map lets you drop a report at your address in a few seconds and immediately see whether anybody else nearby has done the same.

If the map shows multiple reports clustered around your street, the problem is shared with the neighbourhood and you can sit it out, or call to follow up if it lasts. If you are the only point on the map, it points back to your own installation. Reporting also helps later visitors to your area get a clearer picture in real time.

Where to check the official grid status

To confirm whether load shedding is officially active right now, the following sources are the most reliable. They tell you the current stage at a national level but they do not replace your municipal schedule, which determines exactly when your address is cut.

• Eskom System Status page (loadshedding.eskom.co.za) is the official national reference. It shows the current stage, planned changes for the coming hours, and the underlying generation figures.
• MyEskom Customer App publishes live updates on the current stage, outages on the Eskom network and planned interruptions for direct-supply customers.
• EskomSePush (esp.info) is the third-party app most South Africans use. It cross-references the Eskom stage with your home address and tells you the next time your area is cut.
• Municipal portals (City Power, City of Cape Town, eThekwini, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, Nelson Mandela Bay, Buffalo City, Centlec) publish their own outage maps for non-load-shedding faults.

Backup options if load shedding returns

A decade of load shedding has turned South Africa into one of the most mature residential backup markets in the world. Three families of solutions cover most households, ranging from a few hundred rand to full off-grid setups.

• Inverter and battery: entry-level solution to keep lights, Wi-Fi and a TV running through a stage 6 block. No solar panels, the battery recharges from the grid between cuts.
• Hybrid solar with batteries: rooftop solar panels with battery storage. Provides backup during load shedding and reduces the electricity bill the rest of the time. Booming market with players such as GoSolr, LightStruck, Wetility and Hohm Energy.
• Gas appliances: LPG cooker, gas water heater, gas heater. Independent of the electricity grid for cooking, hot water and heating during long outages.

Petrol generators are still common but generate noise, fumes and ongoing fuel costs. Most new home installations since 2023 have moved towards lithium battery inverters and solar.

Eskom, City Power and the wider South African electricity market