[imagesource: Shutterstock]

I know, I know.

We’re all tired of talking about load shedding and Eskom and stages (stage 15?) and Koeberg and generators and so on and so forth. The problem is not going away, though. If anything, it seems to be getting worse.

This morning my kettle was about 25% of the way through boiling when the power went out. The water wasn’t even lukewarm enough to give a cup a bash. The struggle is real.

I don’t even think we can call them first world problems any longer.

Here’s a sobering stat – according to EskomSePush, Eskom has implemented its longest uninterrupted streak of load-shedding since it first started rotational power cuts.

More from MyBroadband:

The popular load-shedding tracking app posted a chart to Twitter showing the 15 longest load-shedding streaks to date, stating that Eskom had not suspended load-shedding in more than 450 hours.

The utility initially started its continuous bout of load-shedding on 8 September 2022, following intermittent power cuts in the preceding days when it experienced breakdowns at five of its power stations.

Here we sit almost three weeks later and the train rolls on.

Click on the image below and a larger version will open so you can ‘enjoy’ this one in greater detail:

Image: Twitter / @EskomSePush

We should point out that the chart above is two days old so we can add another 48 hours on. Basically, we’ve hit the 500-hour mark.

You may have noticed that 2022 also boasts the second-longest streak – just over 403 hours between June 28 and July 15:

That came after an unprecedented strike by Eskom employees over wage increases, which led to power stations being significantly understaffed due to stay-aways and intimidation of staff who weren’t on strike.

Before that streak, the most prolonged durations of continuous load-shedding lasted for less than half the time.

In total, four of the longest 15 streaks have occurred this year.

The current streak shows no signs of slowing down, either, with stage four set to carry on until further notice:

#Loadshedding
Thread

Loadshedding will unfortunately remain implemented at Stage 4 throughout the night and continue until diesel stocks have been fully replenished.

The vessel that is supposed to offload diesel at Mossel Bay cannot berth due to rough seas.

— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) September 28, 2022

At least the diesel can’t get wet, like the coal.

Until it rains.

Anyway, we soldier on as best we can. I’ve had my morning coffee now, crisis averted.

[source:mybb]