Current projections indicate there will be no load-shedding on December 25, says Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena.

If the lights stay on on Christmas Day, it will mean that load-shedding has only ever been implemented on December 25 once since 2007 (the first-year load-shedding was implemented in SA). The gloomy Christmas was in 2022 when, according to data from The Outlier, 205 days of the year had at least one hour of load-shedding.

The worst of the load-shedding years was experienced last year when, according to the same source, one hour of load-shedding was experienced on 335 days. 

It’s important to remember that the data provided by Eskom notes days where load-shedding was implemented, and does not refer to days with load-reduction experienced in certain areas, or power outage due to other factors such as cable theft.

Asked if there are any strategies or initiatives in place to minimise the impact of load-shedding on Christmas Day this year, Mokwena said: “Our goal is to minimise load-shedding and ultimately eliminate it by continuing to implement the generation recovery plan. During Christmas, the significant drop in demand helps reduce the risk of load-shedding.”

She explained that there is a strong possibility there will be no load-shedding this summer. “Our unplanned outages have improved by 8.6% since April, and our energy availability factor has increased by 7.7%. If the power system becomes constrained with unplanned outages reaching 14 000MW, load-shedding will be limited to stage 2, as announced during the summer outlook media briefing.”

Mokwena reminded citizens to see power alerts on their website.