Eskom achieves first year free of loadshedding in eight years

Eskom

Cape Town – South Africa has reached a major energy milestone after power utility Eskom announced that it had gone 365 consecutive days without implementing loadshedding for the first time in eight years.

In a statement released on over the weekend, Eskom said the uninterrupted power supply marked “a decisive turning point and a structural shift from a recovering grid to a stable, high-performing power system”.

The utility said the achievement had saved South Africa R26.9 billion in diesel costs over the past three years while ensuring that 100% of the country’s electricity demand was met.

“This moment has been three years in the making since the inception of the generation recovery plan,” said Eskom Board Chairman Mteto Nyati.

“Eskom’s employees have again delivered using their deep technical and institutional capability built over decades of public investment that remains a critical part of our national capacity, which will now increasingly focus on delivering cleaner sources of energy,” Nyati added.

Eskom Group Chief Executive Dan Marokane said the stable electricity supply created a platform for broader reforms in the energy sector.

“South Africa now has a stable electricity platform to enable an orderly transformation of the industry, as no energy market liberalisation in the world has been successful without a stable incumbent,” said Marokane.

He credited Eskom’s 40,000 employees, equipment manufacturers and government’s Energy Action Plan for the turnaround.

According to Eskom, the utility’s Energy Availability Factor improved from 54.56% to 65.16% since March 2023, while unplanned outages declined from 32.34% to 22.88%.

The company also reported a significant reduction in its reliance on diesel-powered emergency generation, with expenditure dropping from R33.3 billion to R6.4 billion.

Eskom Group Executive for Generation Bheki Nxumalo described the milestone as the “hardest-won progress in Eskom’s recent history”.

“The belief in ourselves and our pride has returned. Today represents the hardest-won progress in Eskom’s recent history and establishes a stable platform for continued performance improvement,” said Nxumalo.

The power utility said the improved electricity supply had also enabled it to support energy-intensive industries such as the ferrochrome sector, helping to sustain industrial production and prevent job losses.

Eskom further revealed that more than half a million households had benefited from its targeted load reduction programme, with load reduction fully eradicated in both the Western Cape and Northern Cape.

Looking ahead, Eskom said it would continue balancing energy security with South Africa’s transition to cleaner energy sources, including decisions on the phased shutdown and repurposing of older coal-fired power stations.

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