South Africa’s state-owned utility, Eskom Holdings, said it has, for the first time since 2018, delivered 300 consecutive days of electricity generation without load shedding at midnight.
This milestone announcement was made by the company in a statement published on its official website on Tuesday, and obtained by Energy in Africa.
The state-owned utility company said it has managed to keep the lights on in South Africa since it launched its Generation Recovery Plan in 2023 in response to frequent power cuts in the country.
It also noted that it saved up to R16.42 billion in diesel expenditure for the past 300 days.
“This achievement is the outcome of Eskom implementing the Generation Recovery Plan since March 2023, which has delivered sustained and ongoing structural improvement in the Generation fleet,” the statement read.
Bheki Nxumalo, Eskom’s Group Executive for Generation stated that the previous 300 days have seen a reduction in unplanned power outages and an improvement in the energy availability factor (EAF) of approximately 7%.
Eskom also reiterated its commitment to implementing generation recovery, strengthening governance, and tackling crime and corruption while future-proofing the organisation to enable energy security.
“This concrete and ongoing delivery of the action plan has boosted business confidence with credit rating agencies and banks,” said Dan Marokane, Group chief executive of Eskom, “stating Eskom’s performance recovery is a key contributor towards positive sentiments as far as South Africa’s GDP growth prospects of up to 2% are concerned”.
Furthermore, Bheki Nxumalo, Eskom’s Group Executive for Generation, disclosed that the company is “now firmly focused on delivering one year without load-shedding at midnight on 26 March 2025”.
