Does load shedding happen in other countries?

Other than Belgium which is only warning of load-shedding, we are nicely grouped with other 3rd world countries, that's a great position from which to entice potential investors
 
Jan said:
That's just when the new load shedding schedule was released. The article doesn't go into how long these countries have experienced load shedding. That public record is limited and the accuracy difficult to verify when don't speak the language.
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Ah, OK. Although, with the exception of Kathmandu, the schedules didn't seem to be followed much at all :) Almost like at home.
 
Thank you, this makes me feel much better now! All bad thoughts and writings of mine, on the subject of load shedding, since it started is automatically reversed and I only have nice things to say and think about load shedding. Thank you! :)
 
Jan said:
There's also a voluntary load shedding programme in the City of Columbia, Missouri: https://www.gocolumbiamo.com/WaterandLight/Business/shedding.php



That's just when the new load shedding schedule was released. The article doesn't go into how long these countries have experienced load shedding. That public record is limited and the accuracy difficult to verify when don't speak the language.
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i think as a society and globally, we are heading to a bigger problem. population is growing quicker than the infrastructures.
 
Don't care.
I don't use their electricity.
I don't pay taxes there.
I don't pay for electricity anywhere else.
 
The article makes it seem like every other country has electricity and we are stuck at the bottom with the dregs of the world. Whereas there are plenty of countries with very little capacity and the reason they don't load shed is because they don't have any load to shed in the first place.
 
This is just another thread to shift attention away.
While I am aware that load shedding occurs in less affluent suburbs of Hollywood, CA, it is not sufficient to compare a 1st world country with this 3rd rate piece of crap run by tinpot dictators.
 
crackersa said:
load shedding happens in Maryland, USA every year during peak summertime. it's usually just for a couple hours each day.
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slightly different situation and more in line with Eskom's wonderful "wet coals" claim

Power utilities around the world have the challenge of managing different demands of customers with respect to reliability, quantity and price and the disconnects that occur between capacity (which is supplied) and consumption form (which is demanded) is always a problem. In proper systems you can trade reliability for price and "spare capacity" is sold on to customers who need to shut down usage when there isn't spare capacity for a lower price (which should be reinvested) but you cannot have a situation where heavy industrial users are receiving a public subsidy as is the case in SA. Now the subsidy of course is because of the crony socialism of the ANC (and the ANCs particular flavour of cronyism, psuedo-socialism, peri-communism, inept totalitarianism and liberal human rights is a special discussion)
http://www.iol.co.za/business/companies/eskom-bhp-contract-a-scandal-1.1490459#.VIbIYDGUdpU
And then remember that Eskom buys coal from the large energy users and these contracts are also problematic - if the coal mine can't get you the needed quantity of sufficient grade coke you need to cut them off rather than give them cheaper electricity than everybody else.
but Eskom is like an addict - they will do anything for their coke dealers, even sign stupid contracts

Maryland has an energy sector that requires loadshedding during the summer to preserve the pricing that is prevalent, General Motors has had furlough mechanism that kicks in when there is an electricity strain causing the discounted pricing to be unavailable, many rail networks
We have a situation in South Africa where some energy users who are very low down the list for blackouts consume an inordinate amount of electricity relative to everybody else at a lower price than what the majority of users are paying. Our electricity price at consumption point is incredibly high due to a deadweight in the economy that is municipal taxation (the monopoly resale point) when compared to the tariff allowed for generation
Basically electricity is sold against a user pay principle with electricity funding those lovely potholes in local roads. To accommodate some of these users base load requirements Eskom have invested in energy generating capabilities that are more expensive than the tariff they get - fueling the financial crisis: while it isn't the farmers fault the Western Cape agricultural requirements are not helping the situation by virtue of getting electricity at an uneconomic (from Eskom's perspective) price.

What needs to happen to resolve our electricity crisis includes:
[1] The discrepancy between the price at point of consumption (what households pay) and the point of plant (what the power producer receives) needs to narrow significantly (NERSA can give Eskom what they want at the expense of the municipalities but watch other cards fall)
[2] Transmission needs to be separated from plant, the horse**** we have in Jbay where transmission capacity is lacking as against generation coming on stream. [REDS is a political crisis]
[3] The feed in tariffs and independent power producers political nonsense needs to end.
[4] New large power facilities (nuclear in particular) need to be outside of Eskom's control
[5] Eskom needs to SPV and sell off individual plants who sell into transmission - with Eskom's separated transmission becoming Eskom: the Electricity Supply Commission (electricity generation in this country started as a private sector venture which was eventually poorly nationalized)
[6] Eventually an energy exchange and so forth need to come on stream

the TL;DR version:
Its not loadshedding we should be bitching about but rather Eskom's coke addiction and the fact that they will pay their coke dealers above everybody else
 
I'm in Belgium at the moment and there are no plans to loadshed.
 
Paul Hjul said:
the TL;DR version:
Its not loadshedding we should be bitching about but rather Eskom's coke addiction and the fact that they will pay their coke dealers above everybody else
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I like some of your points, but they actually point to what I believe, more than just that last line of yours - that this is a national government issue. Eskom (as a state-owned company) is just a child of the state - the problem is with the parent: correct policies, correct implementation of those policies, correct management of Eskom itself, elimination of corruption (ie ANC/Hitachi debacle).

Citizens need to realise this is a political issue and address the solutions at the same level
 
nice group of other countries to be grouped with... do they at least acknowledge that there is a power problem when they embark on loadshedding, or they also tell everybody there is no problem in the world, everything is just sharp, and the CEO and management of the power company get moerse big performance bonuses for a job well done?
 
We were in Zanzibar for vacation and there was 2 hours load shedding daily. Fortunately the hotel had big gennies
 
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