Load-shedding was suspended at 06:00 this morning after Eskom was able to recover sufficient emergency reserves.

“This past Friday, Eskom announced that it had encountered several breakdowns over the past week, necessitating extended repair times and the full use of its emergency reserves.

“As promised, Eskom has since replenished these reserves, with dam levels fully replenished and open-cycle gas turbines adequately recovered, ensuring a stable supply,” a media statement by Eskom reads.

According to the power utility, an additional five coalfired generation units have been repaired and returned to service, which adds 2 930MW to the grid.

An additional 2 391MW is expected to be restored today.

“With load-shedding largely behind us, the structural improvements and efficiency gains we have made in our coal-fired generation fleet are secure, along with the over R16.30b saved in diesel costs from April 1, 2024, to January 30, 2025.”

Eskom says its outlook for the summer, which was published in August last year, remains the same.

Isolated network overloading

Eskom says it continues to face network overloading issues in certain 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 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.”