FULL NATIONAL REPORT
The Complete 2025 Picture
The Grid Dropped 91,934 Times. Here's the Data.
A data-driven analysis of grid instability and outage patterns across all 9 provinces — based on a sample of solar+battery system telemetry from Wetility's national installation network, January-December 2025.
91K+
Unique outage events recorded nationally for the year
9
Provinces covered
57
Municipalities tracked
Every Wetility solar and battery system is both a backup and a silent observer. When the grid goes down, the power stays on — and the event is recorded.
By analysing a sample of Wetility installations across 9 provinces and 57 municipalities, we reconstructed the lived reality of South Africa's grid in 2025. Not through official reports, but through thousands of interruptions experienced by our customers.
This dataset reveals how often the grid failed, how long outages lasted, where reliability broke down and how conditions evolved over the year.
01 — THE GRID CRISIS
A daily reality, not an occasional inconvenience
Across the Wetility monitoring network, every province experienced grid outage events every single month during 2025. The typical household experienced 6–9 outages per month, totalling 73–132 hours without grid power. After deduplication, 91,934 unique outage events were recorded nationally across all municipalities.
6–9
Avg outages per household per month
12.1 hrs
Average outage duration (median 10.3h)
14 hrs
Worst avg duration (Gauteng)
6.6 hrs
Shortest avg duration (Eastern Cape)
Average Outage Duration by Province
Hours per event, normalized metric not affected by installation density
KEY INSIGHT
Gauteng outages last 2.1× longer than Eastern Cape outages on average (14.01h vs 6.62h). These are fundamentally different grid failure patterns requiring different resilience strategies — i.e. larger batteries are needed for longer outages.
02 — Outage Character
Not all outages are created equal
23.6% of outage events are under 2 hours. But the remaining 76.4% — especially the 58.1% that last 8+ hours — are what truly test a backup power system's limits.
Duration Profile: National
Long Outages (8+ hrs) by Province
% of total outage events lasting 8+ hours
KEY INSIGHT
In Gauteng , 65.7% of events last 8+ hours with an average duration of 14.01h — the worst in the country. This means Gauteng residents face the longest, most demanding outage patterns, requiring substantially larger battery reserves to maintain uninterrupted power throughout these events.
03 — Monthly Trend
Avg outage events per sampled household
How average outage hours and average outage events per sampled household evolved across 2025, normalised for customer growth. October carries an asterisk due to a known data gap.
Monthly Outage Trend - Avg Outage Events Per Sampled Household
Average monthly outage frequency normalised per active installation
* October data note: We experienced a data gap on a significant portion of the devices sampled during October due to cloud infrastructure optimisation. The remaining months are complete and validated. October is excluded from the trendline but included in annual totals via a pro-rata adjustment (scale factor: 8.71×).
KEY INSIGHT
Average outage hours per sampled household ranged from 73 to 132 per month. Average outage events per household ranged from 6 to 9. February was the worst month (8.8 outages, 131.8 hours per household). The grid showed sustained instability throughout 2025.
Protect Your Home fromPower Outages with Solar
The most reliable way to protect your home or business from electricity outages is to reduce your dependence on the grid. Wetility's solar energy solutions are designed for the South African reality - affordable, installed by experts, and available on a convenient pay-monthly basis. With a Wetility solar system and battery backup, you stay powered even when the grid doesn't.
Get Wetility Solar04 — Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ's
How does Wetility track electricity outages in South Africa?
Wetility collects real-time grid data from thousands of solar installations across 57+ South African municipalities. When a solar system detects that the municipal grid has gone down, it is logged as an outage event. This crowdsourced approach provides accurate outage information without relying on utility providers to report disruptions.
Which municipalities are covered by the outage map?
The Wetility electricity outage map currently covers 57+ municipalities across South Africa, including major metros such as Johannesburg (City Power), Tshwane (Pretoria), eThekwini (Durban), Cape Town, and Ekurhuleni.
Is this the same as load shedding?
No. Load shedding is a planned, scheduled reduction in electricity supply implemented by Eskom or municipalities. The outages tracked on this map include unplanned power outages, grid failures, and infrastructure disruptions that are separate from the official load shedding schedule.
How often is the outage data updated?
The outage data was collected in real time by Wetility solar systems in 2025. As Wetility solar installations detected changes in grid connectivity, the data was recorded, giving you the most accurate picture of electricity supply in your area.
Does this map cover all Wetility installations?
This report is based on a sample of Wetility installations. It does not represent the full Wetility customer base, nor all grid users in South Africa. Findings reflect the experience of monitored Wetility customers — typically homeowners and businesses in suburban areas.
How can I protect my home or business from power outages?
Installing a solar energy system with battery backup is the most reliable way to protect against electricity outages. Wetility offers affordable solar solutions on a pay-monthly basis, designed to keep your lights on even when the grid goes down.
Can I report a power outage through this map?
The Wetility outage map is a monitoring tool powered by data from our solar installations in 2025 and does not accept user-submitted outage reports. To report a power outage, contact your local municipality or Eskom directly.
HOW IT WORKS
How Does theWetility ElectricityOutage Map Work?
Wetility's electricity outage map uses data from thousands of solar energy systems installed across South Africa. Each Wetility solar installation continuously monitors the connection between your property and the municipal electricity grid. When an outage is detected - whether it's a localised fault, an infrastructure failure, or a widespread grid disruption - the system logs the event automatically.
This crowdsourced data is aggregated across 57+ municipalities, giving you a picture of electricity supply and grid reliability in your area. Unlike load shedding schedules, which only cover planned outages, this map reveals the unplanned power cuts and grid failures that affect South African households and businesses every day.
COVERAGE
Which AreasAre Covered?
The outage map currently tracks electricity grid status across 57+ South African municipalities, including major metros and surrounding areas. Coverage includes City Power (Johannesburg), City of Tshwane (Pretoria), eThekwini (Durban), City of Cape Town, Ekurhuleni, and many more.
Search for your municipality above to see outage data, recent outage history, and overall grid reliability in your area.
WHY THIS MATTERS
How Does the Wetility Electricity Outage Map Work?
South Africa's electricity grid faces ongoing challenges that go beyond the well-publicised load shedding schedule. Ageing infrastructure, cable theft, substation failures, and increasing demand all contribute to unplanned power outages that can last hours or even days. For businesses, these outages mean lost revenue, damaged equipment, and reduced productivity. For homeowners, they disrupt daily life and compromise security.
Understanding how often your area experiences power disruptions is the first step to making informed decisions about energy independence. That's why we built this outage tracker, so you can see the real data, not just the official schedule.
05 — Methodology & Data Notes
How to read this report
Transparency about what the data shows and what it doesn't.
Data Source
System data sample from Wetility's solar and battery customers for the period January to December 2025.
Outage Definition
An outage event is defined as a grid power interruption detected by a Wetility solar+battery system. The raw data splits outages into 24-hour segments; if the same device records consecutive segments with less than 5 minutes between them, they are stitched into a single continuous event. A 48-hour outage is counted as one event, not two. Devices identified as off-grid — defined as having a continuous outage exceeding 30 days — are excluded from the dataset entirely.
Data Normalisation
If multiple outage records start and end within the same 15-minute window and fall within the same municipality, they are classified as a single event to avoid duplication from concurrent device reporting. All cross-regional comparisons use per-installation or per-event metrics to prevent inflation from customer density. Raw totals are used only for national aggregates.
October Data Gap
Data from a significant portion of the sampled devices has been excluded from October due to cloud infrastructure optimisation. October is excluded from trendlines but included in annual totals via a pro-rata adjustment (scale factor: 8.71×).
Sample & Limitations
This report is based on a sample of Wetility installations. It does not represent the full Wetility customer base, nor all grid users in South Africa. Findings reflect the experience of monitored Wetility customers — typically homeowners and businesses in suburban areas.
Accuracy
This report has been generated with the highest degree of accuracy achievable from available telemetry data. However, as with any large-scale dataset, errors in measurement, transmission, or processing may occur. Wetility does not warrant that the data is entirely free from inaccuracies.
© Wetility. All rights reserved. This report and its data are proprietary and protected by copyright.