Eskom says South Africa has gone more than 540 days without load shedding, as the power utility shifts its focus to holding on to the gains it has made.
In a statement on its performance, Eskom said: “Eskom's focus is now on sustaining these gains.”
The numbers Eskom reports
Eskom says its Energy Availability Factor stands at 68.16%, with about 6 481MW of generation capacity recovered compared with three years ago. Unplanned outages improved by 6.05% year on year, with about 2 720MW returned to service. Average unplanned outages have fallen by about 7 076MW over three years, from 16 167MW to 9 092MW.
Eskom says about 6 855MW of available capacity is above current demand.
Diesel spending down sharply
Spending on diesel for open-cycle gas turbines is R1.26 billion so far this year, according to Eskom. That is R4.81 billion, or 79.19%, lower than the R6.073 billion spent in the same period last year.
Load reduction cut
About 1.6 million customers have been returned to normal supply, Eskom says, shrinking the load reduction footprint by 94%, from about 1.69 million customers to 102 551. The utility aims to eliminate load reduction by March 2027.
What to keep in mind
- All figures are Eskom's own and have not been independently verified.
- An availability factor of 68.16% leaves room for improvement, and the statement does not detail how the gains will be sustained.
