7 months without load-shedding: Eskom saves billions on diesel

Eskom has reduced its diesel expenditure by over 70% year-on-year, resulting in savings exceeding R14b.

This reduction comes as the utility has managed to avoid load-shedding for more than seven months.

“Load-shedding has been suspended for over seven months (226 consecutive days) since March 26. Eskom continues to focus on maximising efficiencies from the investments made in the generation recovery plan.

“This has resulted in year-on-year diesel savings of R14.6b, approximately 70.3% less than the R20.8b spent during the same period last year. Further savings are expected in the coming weeks and months due to the improved performance of the coal fleet,” Eskom said.

Maintenance

Additionally, Eskom has noted a ‘significant decrease’ in unplanned outages at power stations, enabling more planned maintenance.

“Over the past seven days, the average total unplanned outages have been 10 127MW, a significant decrease from 16 892MW during the same period last year, representing a reduction of 6 765MW.

“This ongoing improvement in reducing unplanned outages enables Eskom to carry out more planned maintenance activities and ensures that more generation capacity is available to meet the country’s electricity demand,” Eskom said.

Supply and demand

The energy availability factor (EAF) has also risen to 63.1% for the year to date, with at least four power stations achieving an EAF of over 70%.

“Eskom is well-capacitated to meet the electricity demand.

“By Monday evening, an additional 4 050MW is expected to return online, with four units on cold reserve this weekend to manage the supply and demand balance,” the power utility said.

Eskom cautioned, however, that network overloading remains an issue in certain areas.

“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,” the power utility explained.

Consumers are encouraged to report any illegal activities to the Eskom Crime Line at 0800 112 722 or via WhatsApp at 081 333 3323. – SAnews.gov.za