South Africa has now experienced 203 consecutive days without load shedding.
As the country heads into the festive and holiday period, the country has not experienced any load shedding for the past six months, with Eskom saying it will be bringing 3 600MW of generation capacity online ahead of the evening peak on Monday, 8 December 2025.
The parastatal said the power system is stable and resilient, “consistently meeting demand.”
Unplanned capacity
Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena said for the period 28 November to 4 December 2025, the average Unplanned Capacity Loss Factor (UCLF)—which measures the percentage of generation capacity lost due to unplanned outages is at 22.56%, a reduction of 1.05% from 23.61% during the same period last year.
“The average Planned Capacity Loss Factor (PCLF) for 28 November to 4 December 2025 increased to 11.62%, lower than the 16.95% recorded last year. This planned maintenance aligns with Eskom’s maintenance schedule and ongoing efforts to enhance plant reliability and operational consistency.
“South Africa has now experienced 203 consecutive days without an interrupted supply, with only 26 hours of load shedding recorded in April and May during this financial year,” Mokwena said.
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Summer outlook
Eskom published the Summer Outlook on 5 September 2025, covering the period 1 September 2025 to 31 March 2026, and projects no load shedding due to sustained improvements in plant performance from the Generation Recovery Plan.
Diesel costs
Mokwena said between 1 April and 4 November 2025, Eskom generated 1 042.86GWh from Open Cycle Gas Turbines (CGT) plants, incurring diesel costs of R6.193 billion.
“This is lower than the 1 103.83GWh produced during the same period last year. This is for the first time in the current financial year that the year-to-date diesel usage is below previous comparable period.
“Importantly, diesel consumption has been declining month-on-month steadily since May 2025, and the load factor for December month-to-date is currently at 0% – OCGT’s were last run on 28 November,” Mokwena said.
Load reduction
Mokwena also highlighted that Eskom launched a phased programme to end load reduction by 2027, targeting 971 feeders and benefiting 1.69 million customers out of its 7.2 million customer base across all provinces.
Key initiatives include smart meters, Distributed Energy Resources, and expanded Free Basic Electricity.
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