Treasury norm: 7% to 10%
Share of electricity bought or generated that is lost before it is sold.
Source: Cape Town’s audited annual financial statements.
Electricity · Western Cape
Cape Town
How often is it off? Who produces our power?
11.2%
of the electricity bought or generated was lost before it was sold in 2024-25. Treasury’s norm is 7% to 10%.
Official: Audited annual financial statements · Data as of 2024-25 financial year (audited statements) · Next update expected Jan 2027 (2025-26 annual reports) · Last updated
Compare all eight metros: Electricity. An asterisk marks a figure our automated checks found inconsistent with another official figure; it is shown as reported, explained in a footnote and left out of rankings.
Electricity lost before it is sold
Official: audited annual financial statements · Data as of 2024-25 financial year (audited statements) · Next update expected Jan 2027 (2025-26 annual reports) · Last updated
Electricity a metro buys or generates but never bills: technical losses in the network, theft and faulty meters. Treasury’s norm is 7% to 10%.
What these words mean
- Distribution losses
- Water or electricity a metro buys or produces but never bills: leaks, theft, illegal connections and faulty meters.
- Treasury norm
- A target National Treasury sets for every municipality in MFMA Circular 71, so metros can be compared on the same scale.
Power outage notices
Official: City of Cape Town, media releases · Data as of see each notice’s date · Updates: checked daily · Last updated
47 power interruption notices from Cape Town since 1 Jan 2025; 42 named places we could match to wards.
Latest notices
- 2 Oct 2026 Reminder: City advises of critical electricity upgrades in large parts of Southern and Far South areas
- 1 Oct 2026 City advises of critical electricity maintenance in Heideveld, Manenberg · wards 30, 44, 46
- 23 Sep 2026 City advises of critical electricity upgrades in large parts of Southern and Far South areas
- 16 Sep 2026 POSTPONED: City advises of critical electricity upgrades in Muizenberg, Clovelly, Sun Valley and surrounds · wards 45, 64, 69, 71
- 15 Sep 2026 Reminder: City advises of Eskom’s critical electricity maintenance in Gordon’s Bay · wards 100
- 8 Sep 2026 CORRECTION: City reminds Colorado Park of critical electricity maintenance · wards 75
- 14 Aug 2026 City reminds residents of critical electricity upgrades in Sea Point, Camps Bay, Clifton · wards 54
- 9 Jan 2026 City advises of electricity supply interruptions in Tambo Village and Welcome Estate · wards 44, 49
- 6 Jan 2026 City advises of electricity supply interruption in Duynefontein, Van Riebeeckstrand and surrounds · wards 23
- 26 Nov 2025 City advises of electricity supply interruptions in Van Riebeeckstrand and Duynefontein area · wards 23
- 5 Nov 2025 City advises of planned electricity supply interruptions in Van Riebeeckstrand and Duinefontein area
- 4 Nov 2025 City advises of critical Sherwood Park, Manenberg, Lansdowne Industrial electricity work · wards 30, 32, 46, 48, 60
- 17 Oct 2025 City reminds residents of planned electricity supply maintenance in parts of Bellville · wards 1, 2, 3, 9, 10, 21, 70
- 9 Oct 2025 City advises residents of planned electricity supply maintenance in parts of Bellville · wards 1, 2, 3, 9, 10, 21, 70
- 2 Oct 2025 City advises of planned electricity supply maintenance in Century City, surrounds · wards 55
Places are matched by their Stats SA Census 2011 names, longest name first, with no guessing; a name we cannot match is listed for checking and not linked to a ward. Notices before 1 Jan 2025 are not included. Where a metro publishes no notices, residents can report an outage (community reports, unverified).
Load shedding by year
6 948 hours in 2023, against 1 656 hours in 2024. It last happened on 26 Mar 2024, by the CSIR’s count.
Independent source: CSIR Energy Centre, Utility-scale power generation statistics in South Africa 2024, page 69. The CSIR estimates these from Eskom’s announcements; not an official statistic, and not used in our rankings. The report. Data as of 2024 (latest annual report) · Updates: the CSIR publishes once a year.