South Africans have been battered by power shortages for several years. These have worsened to the point where, towards the end of 2022, only half of Eskom's power-generation capacity was operational.
This has forced the power utility to escalate its rotational power cuts. By mid-January 2023, users were going without electricity for eight to 10 hours a day. The situation is unlikely to improve much in the short to medium term. It's expected that this year, especially as power demand increases in winter, the country's electricity supply will decline to the point where power may sometimes only be available for 12
