WHAT IS LOAD SHEDDING?
* Groups of electricity customers have their power turned off at a given time.
WHY IS IT DONE?
* To balance supply and demand in the national electricity system and keep it stable when there's not enough electricity to meet demand.
* A range of factors could lead to a supply and demand imbalance, including an electricity generation plant going offline unexpectedly or because power lines or other assets have been damaged.
WHO CONTROLS IT?
* The Australian Energy Market Operator decides how much energy consumption needs to be shed.
* Electricity distribution companies, such as SA Power Networks, work out how to do it locally.
SA EXAMPLES
* About 40,000 customers lost power for 30 minutes on February 9 while the temperature was above 40 degrees because of too much demand.
* About 110,000 homes and businesses lost power for more than two hours in November 2015 after an interconnector between SA and Victoria went down.
Source: Australian Energy Market Operator
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