Johannesburg:Eskom is showing substantial progress in its generation recovery efforts, achieving an Energy Availability Factor of 68.1% for the current financial year-to-date. This milestone equates to an increase of approximately 6424MW in available generation capacity compared to three years ago.
According to South African Government News Agency, this recovery has led to a significant decrease in the reliance on diesel-fired Open-Cycle Gas Turbines (OCGTs), resulting in a reduction of R4.81 billion in diesel expenditure year-on-year. Unplanned outages have improved by 6.89%, with approximately 3115MW of generation capacity restored compared to the same period last year. Over the past three years, average unplanned outages have decreased significantly by 7064MW, from 16,172MW to 9,108MW.
Eskom's Generation Recovery Plan has enabled South Africa to experience 525 consecutive days without loadshedding since May 16, 2025. The power utility has reported having 4961MW of available generation capacity above current demand requirements. The improvements in generation availability and operational performance are central to Eskom's strategy to provide reliable electricity and support economic growth in South Africa.
The utility's efforts to eradicate load reduction have also been fruitful, with around 1.5 million customers previously affected by load reduction now restored to normal electricity supply. The number of customers still affected has decreased by 88.6%, leaving 193,556 customers still impacted, primarily in specific areas of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
Eskom continues to implement targeted interventions, such as the rollout of smart meters, with 524,375 installed on load reduction feeders, covering about 91% of the high-priority areas. This initiative is focused on high-loss areas affected by illegal connections and infrastructure overloading. Despite challenges like safety incidents and work stoppages, Eskom is advancing towards its target of eradicating load reduction by March 2027.