Eskom has successfully suspended loadshedding for 212 consecutive days since 26 March 2024. This significant achievement is attributed to the ongoing success of its Generation Recovery Plan, which has been instrumental in maintaining a stable power supply across South Africa.
Eskom’s Energy Availability Factor (EAF) has maintained a steady average of 62 % over the past week and 63% year to date, with top-performing stations — including Kusile, Grootvlei, Majuba, Camden, and peaking facilities — achieving over 70% EAF. Four other power stations recorded EAFs above 60%, sustaining system reliability.
Operational efficiency over the past seven days has improved compared to summer expectations, with unplanned outages ranging between 10 000MW and 11 800MW. Today’s unplanned outages are at 10 705MW, which is 2 295MW lower than the summer 2024 base case, indicating enhanced operational efficiency in the past week.
With an available generation capacity of 29 273MW and a peak demand forecast of 26 016MW for tonight, Eskom remains on track to meet electricity needs. By Monday evening, an additional 4 200MW is expected to return online, with eight units on cold reserve this weekend to manage supply and demand balance.
Eskom has also significantly reduced its reliance on Open Cycle Gas Turbines (OCGTs), spending R6.2 billion on OCGTs between 1 April and 24 October 2024 — a 66.5% reduction from last year’s R18.52 billion over the same period.
In August, Eskom shared its summer outlook for the period from 1 September 2024 to 31 March 2025, predicting a likely scenario of a loadshedding-free summer due to structural generation improvements. This outlook remains unchanged.
Key Performance Highlights:
Reduction in unplanned outages:
- The Unplanned Capacity Loss Factor (UCLF) is at 25.4% for the financial year to date (1 April 2024 to 24 October 2024), improving from 33.61% in the corresponding period last year.
- This reduction in UCLF represents an 8.2% improvement compared to the same period last year.
Ongoing Planned Maintenance:
Ongoing planned maintenance is at 6 591MW, aligning with our summer maintenance strategy to further increase the reliability of the stations in preparation for winter 2025 and beyond.
Sustained Energy Availability Factor (EAF) improvement:
- The year-to-date (1 April 2024 to 24 October 2024) EAF is at 63.0%, a significant improvement of ~7.4% compared to the same period last year (55.6%).
- The weekly EAF has improved from 57.0% at the beginning of the financial year to 63.8% from 21 October to 24 October 2024, an improvement of 6.8%.
- This improvement is primarily due to a drop in unplanned outages (UCLF and OCLF) of the generation units.
Continued strategic utilisation of Open-Cycle Gas Turbines (OCGTs):
Our strategic use of peaking stations, including pumped storage and OCGTs, remains key in managing electricity demand during peak times, particularly during evening peaks (17:00 to 22:00).
- Eskom’s expenditure on OCGTs between 1 April and 24 October 2024 slightly increased to R6.20 billion having generated 947.21GWh, approximately 66.5% (R12.32 billion) less than the R18.52 billion spent last year over the same period for 3 015.97GWh.
- The OCGT load factor for 1 April to 24 October 2024 was 5.58%, compared to last year’s figure of 17.78%.
- The OCGT load factor for 1 October to 24 October 2024 was 3.44%, significantly lower than the 8.32% for the same period last year.
- Diesel usage remains below the year-to-date budget.
‘Save Your Transformers, Save Lives’ campaign
While loadshedding remains suspended, Eskom continues to face network overloading issues in certain local areas due to illegal connections, vandalism, meter tampering, unauthorised network operations, theft of network equipment, and purchasing electricity from unlicensed vendors.
To prevent public safety hazards and the risk of network overloading which can lead to load reduction measures and extended unplanned power outages, Eskom strongly urges customers to avoid illegal connections, as this can negatively impact the entire local community. It is also essential for customers to ensure they purchase electricity only from authorised vendors.
Eskom urges the public to help protect the integrity of the power network by reporting any illegal activities to the Eskom Crime Line at 0800 112 722 or via WhatsApp at 081 333 3323.
As we approach 24 November 2024, Eskom also encourages customers to recode their meters to prevent them from expiring and causing a loss of electricity.
We will provide an update on Friday, 1 November 2024, or promptly communicate any significant changes as soon as they occur.
