Image Source: Moneyweb
Local – Despite many communities across the province and nationwide going days without electricity for various reasons, from maintenance and illegal connections and meter tampering to damaged infrastructure, Eskom said South Africa has now gone more than 500 consecutive days without load shedding.
In a statement, the power utility said the country had recorded 504 consecutive days without load shedding since 16 May 2025. It attributed this to improved fleet performance, lower unplanned outages, increased generation capacity and reduced reliance on emergency generation resources.
“This milestone demonstrates the sustained progress being made in restoring reliability, strengthening energy security and supporting South Africa’s economic growth and development,” Eskom said.
Strongest Performance in Six Years
The utility said its year-to-date Energy Availability Factor (EAF) had reached 68.11%, its strongest operational performance in six years, up from 62.59% during the same period last year. Unplanned outages improved by 6.69% year-on-year, with approximately 2 943MW of generation capacity returned to service.
Between 1 April and 1 October 2026, diesel expenditure declined by R4.79 billion, or 80.49%, falling from R5.95 billion to R1.16 billion. Over the same period, the Open Cycle Gas Turbines (OCGT) load factor dropped from 6.72% to 1.02%.
“Combined, these results demonstrate Eskom’s continued progress in delivering a more reliable, cost-efficient and environmentally sustainable electricity supply for South Africa,” it said.
Ending Load Reduction by 2027
Eskom said it remained committed to eliminating load reduction by March 2027 through its Load Reduction Eradication Programme, with seven provinces now free of it. The number of affected customers has declined from 1.69 million to 202 590, representing 2.8% of its customer base, with the remainder in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
The utility said that although generation capacity continued to exceed demand, illegal connections and meter tampering persisted in certain localised areas, damaging infrastructure and posing serious safety risks. It has installed 517 872 smart meters on load reduction feeders, but said more than 122 000 planned installations had been delayed by resistance, intimidation and work stoppages in some areas.
“Eskom continues to implement load reduction as a temporary, targeted measure in high-risk areas to protect both communities and the electricity network,” the power utility said.
