South Africa has reached 441 consecutive days without load shedding, as Eskom reports continued improvements in generation performance, reduced reliance on diesel and lower levels of unplanned outages.
According to Eskom, the country has been without load shedding since 16 May 2025. Between 1 April and 30 July 2026, electricity demand was met 100% of the time, while the utility’s Winter Outlook for the period to 31 August continued to project no loadshedding.
Eskom said the sustained period without load shedding forms part of a broader improvement in the performance of the power system, with stronger generation availability and additional capacity helping the utility meet demand during the winter period.
One of the clearest indicators of the improvement was recorded on 26 July, when Eskom achieved a daily Energy Availability Factor (EAF) of 82.04% — its highest daily performance since 2017.
The financial year-to-date EAF had improved to 66.97%, a 7.28% year-on-year increase.
Eskom said the EAF had improved by 11.8% compared with the same period three years earlier, returning approximately 5.9GW of generating capacity to the grid. More than 85% of the coal fleet was operating at EAF levels between 73% and 97%.
The utility also reported a sharp decline in unplanned outages.
On 26 July, unplanned outages fell to 4 562MW, the lowest level recorded since 30 June 2018, when the figure stood at 4 327MW. Eskom said the reduction had strengthened system reliability and helped South Africa meet increased winter demand.
For the week from 24 to 30 July, average unplanned outages were 5 553MW, down from 10 641MW during the same period last year. Eskom calculated this as a reduction of 5 088MW, or 47.8% year-on-year.
The Unplanned Capacity Loss Factor also improved to 11.74%, compared with 22.21% in the corresponding period last year. Planned maintenance averaged 8.94% over the week, down from 10.40% during the same period a year earlier.
Eskom said the improvements reflected the gains being made through its Generation Recovery Plan.
The improved availability of generating capacity has also reduced Eskom’s reliance on diesel-fired generation.
The utility said diesel was not used between 24 and 30 July, marking the second consecutive week without diesel usage.
For the financial year to date, from 1 April to 30 July, diesel expenditure stood at R807.41 million, compared with R5.63 billion during the same period last year. Eskom said this represented an 85.67% reduction in diesel expenditure.
The load factor for Open-Cycle Gas Turbines, which are used to provide additional electricity during periods of high demand, averaged 1.08%, compared with 9.71% the previous year.
Year-to-date OCGT generation was 105.977GWh, approximately 88.89% lower than the corresponding period last year.
Eskom said the lower use of OCGTs reflected improved fleet performance and reduced dependence on diesel-powered generation.
Despite the improvement in the national power system and the end of load shedding, Eskom continues to implement load reduction in some areas affected by illegal connections, meter tampering, infrastructure damage and overloading.
The utility’s Load Reduction Eradication Programme has removed approximately 1.196 million customers from load reduction schedules — about 70.8% of the 1.69 million customers originally affected.
Six of South Africa’s nine provinces have been completely removed from load reduction, while progress continues in the Eastern Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. Eskom said the proportion of its customers affected by load reduction had fallen from a peak of 23.5% to approximately 6.9%.
The utility remains on track to eliminate load reduction in a seventh province by October 2026, with nationwide eradication targeted for 2027.
Smart-meter installations are also being used to support the programme.
Eskom said 503 139 smart meters had been installed on load reduction feeders, reaching 87.1% of the 577 347 target for high-priority areas. Approximately 93% of the installations were concentrated in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal.
A total of 565 feeders had been removed from load reduction, representing approximately 58% of the programme’s 971-feeder target.
According to the energy utility approximately 1 196 657 customers were no longer affected by load reduction. The figure includes 670 785 customers in Limpopo and Mpumalanga, 268 902 in Gauteng, 21 835 in the Eastern and Western Cape, 184 907 in KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State, and 50 228 in the North West and Northern Cape. – SAnews.gov.za
