Eskom says it concluded its winter 2025 period on 31 August with only 26 hours of load shedding.
With winter officially over and Summer just around the corner, Eskom has promised that there will be no load shedding during summer.
The parastatal presented its summer outlook during a media briefing on Friday, 5 September.
No summer darkness
Eskom said it concluded its 2025 winter period on 31 August with only 26 hours of load shedding across four evenings, supplying electricity 97% of the time to support South Africa’s economy.
“Eskom’s summer outlook for 1 September 2025 to 31 March 2026 forecasts no load shedding — a recovery from last summer’s 13 days of load shedding, when electricity was supplied 96% of the time due to delayed unit returns from planned maintenance.
“This summer represents an even greater improvement compared with the 176 days of load shedding during the 2023-24 summer, when electricity was available only 17% of the time,” Eskom said.
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Recovery and structural improvements
The parastatal said that compared with the commencement of the previous summer of 2024-25, supply and demand interventions at this comparative time have added ~4 000MW of extra capacity to meet expected demand this summer.
Eskom Group Chief Executive, Dan Marokane, said the summer outlook is supported by an ongoing recovery and structural improvements in its generation fleet as a result of the focused implementation of the Generation Recovery Plan by its workforce.
“The structural shift in the performance of the generation fleet has, at the same time, delivered cost efficiencies, with savings in diesel spend of approximately R16 billion in the last financial year alone.
“We are currently increasing our focus and capacity to drive further efficiencies across Eskom through primary energy optimisation, procurement efficiencies, digital transformation, and capital productivity, together with revenue growth opportunities,” said Marokane.
Generation capacity
Eskom Group Executive for Generation, Bheki Nxumalo, said the disciplined execution and dedication by their teams have ensured the “best winter period performance in recent years” and laid a solid foundation for a positive summer plan.
“Our recovery of generation capacity, improved plant performance, and operational excellence are stabilising the national grid and enhancing service delivery. Reduced load shedding and improved EAF (Energy Availability Factor] demonstrate that our interventions are delivering results for South Africa.”
The utility said an additional 930MW of capacity is expected from Koeberg Unit 1 when it returns to service following Long-Term Operation maintenance in September 2025.
Eskom acknowledged that setbacks occurred due to delays in returning units from outages last summer and this winter. However, it said its targeted interventions continue to deliver measurable improvements.
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