How did Eskom turn it around?

Does Eskom’s best performance in a decade – 441 consecutive days without load shedding, cutting diesel use to zero for two consecutive weeks and the highest energy availability factor (EAF) since 2017 – mean the dark times are over for the power utility?

The company believes it does – but experts are not so sure.

Are the dark times at Eskom over?

Eskom’s successes, they say, have been built on the back of the public’s tax money and the private sector.

Energy expert Chris Yelland said the new generation capacity from renewable energy has played a significant role in the reduction of load shedding.

He said since the price of electricity has risen dramatically over the past 10 years at many times the inflation rate, it made the case for alternative energy more businesslike.

“Not only that, during the years of load shedding, government, South African Revenue Service (Sars) and Eskom encouraged people to put in solar PV to relieve the burden on their own generation. People responded to this encouragement and government incentives made by Sars, including tax benefits to encourage people to install solar PV,” said Yelland.

“The private sector responded very dramatically and brought significant new generation capacity online, which has also played a role in reducing load shedding.”

Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse CEO Wayne Duvenage said the cessation of load shedding and improvement in the EAF was “largely due to about 6GW of electricity requirements being taken off Eskom’s grid and then to management impacts driven by improved generation capacity and maintenance”.

Utility finally getting out of situation it should never have got into – Outa

He added: “Eventually, Eskom is getting to a place where they once were and out of a situation where they should never have got to in the first place.”

Yelland said another factor impacting demand for electricity was the economy.

“Other factors that played a role were the demand destruction caused by the closure of the smelting industry, including ferrochrome smelters, manganese smelters and iron and steel,” he said.

“There have been closures all over the country, which were very intensive industries. This has also relieved the burden on Eskom’s generation and helped reduce load shedding.”

However, he noted the good work done by Eskom itself.

“They have improved the performance of their generation fleet, but without the help of the private sector, without the demand destruction caused by their own electricity prices, they would not have had the space to be able to do the necessary maintenance,” he said.

Improved performance

“A few things have come together and contributed to enabling Eskom to have sufficient space to do the job properly.”

On top of all that, Treasury gave a massive bailout of several hundred billion rands to Eskom, which has helped ease its liquidity problems and enable it to buy spares and contract the necessary people to do maintenance properly, without the financial help from the taxpayer, Yelland said.

Eskom said the 441 consecutive days without load shedding since May 2025 had been because demand was met 100% of the time between April and July this year, with available capacity exceeding winter peaks.

Eskom also announced it had cut diesel use to zero for two consecutive weeks, as it did not use any diesel to support the grid between 24 and 30 July.

“Year to date, diesel costs stand at R807.41 million, compared to R5.63 billion over the same period last year, representing an 85.67% reduction. This reflects improved generation performance and sufficient capacity to meet demand,” Eskom said.

It also recorded a daily EAF of 82.04% on 26 July, the highest since 2017, and said unplanned outages were also reduced to 4 562MW – the lowest level in eight years.

Utility records 82.04% EAF, highest since 2017

The utility said its operational recovery is firmly on track, reporting record system performance that has reduced reliance on diesel generation and strengthened energy security nationwide.

“More than 85% of the coal fleet is now operating at EAF levels between 73% and 97%. Compared to three years ago, Eskom’s EAF has improved by 11.8%, returning about 5.9GW of generating capacity to the grid,” said Eskom.

The utility added its load reduction eradication programme continues to deliver tangible benefits to households.

“Six provinces are now load reduction-free, with 1.1 million customers removed from schedules. This progress highlights the effectiveness of targeted network interventions and Eskom’s commitment to eliminating load reduction nationwide by next year,” the statement said.

“Eskom remains on track to eliminate load reduction in a seventh province by October, with nationwide eradication targeted for 2027.”