Eskom’s power system remains stable, with the power utility reached 105 consecutive days without loadshedding to South Africa.
In a statement on Friday, Eskom said this milestone, driven by consistently low level of unplanned outages, underscores the sustained improvements in the performance of the generation fleet.
“This milestone builds on the momentum of Financial Year (FY) 2025, which recorded 352 loadshedding-free days, and reflects a significant improvement from the 36 days achieved in FY2024. As the winter season concludes, the national grid remains stable and reliable, reinforcing Eskom’s commitment to ending loadshedding,” Eskom said.
Eskom’s sustained technical improvements have ensured a reliable power system, meeting more than 97% of electricity demand this winter and financial year to date.
South Africa has experienced no loadshedding since 15 May 2025, with only 26 hours recorded between 1 April and 28 August 2025.
“The resilience of our generation fleet continues to improve, with unplanned losses due to breakdowns now at 8 948MW, well below the 10 000MW threshold, highlighting the structural progress in plant performance as a result of the ongoing implementation of the Generation Recovery Plan,” Eskom said.
Between 15 and 28 August 2025, planned maintenance increased, averaging 6 968MW.
During this period, the Energy Availability Factor (EAF) fluctuated between 64% and 75%, with the month-to-date average rising to 66.15%.
“This upward trend reflects growing stability and improved reliability across the generation fleet. These figures exclude Kusile Unit 6, which has been contributing 720MW to the national grid since 23 March 2025. Although not yet in commercial operation, the unit is expected to reach that milestone by September 2025.
“To further strengthen grid stability, Eskom is planning to return a total of 4 830MW of generation capacity to service ahead of the evening peak on Monday, 01 September 2025, and throughout the coming week,” Eskom said.
Between 1 April and 28 August 2025, the Unplanned Capability Loss Factor (UCLF), which reflects the percentage of generation capacity lost due to unplanned outages, further decreased to 27.3%.
This represents a week-on-week improvement of approximately 0.55%, although it remains about 1.6% higher than the 25.67% recorded during the same period last year.
The open-cycle gas turbine (OCGT) load factor further decreased to 0.16% this week from 0.78% the previous week (21–28 August 2025), with OCGTs utilised strategically to address occasional system constraints during morning and evening peak periods.
From 1 April to 28 August 2025, diesel spend remains well under the allocated budget.
“The Winter Outlook, published on 5 May 2025, covering the period ending 31 August 2025, remains valid. It indicates that loadshedding will not be necessary if unplanned outages stay below 13 000MW. If outages rise to 15 000MW, loadshedding would be limited to a maximum of 21 days out of 153 days and restricted to Stage 2.
“With just two days remaining in Eskom’s Winter Outlook period, the power system remains well-positioned to maintain stability and reliably meet demand,” the utility said.
The available generation capacity currently stands at 29 132MW, while Friday’s electricity demand was expected to reach 25 797MW.
The current capacity is sufficient to meet both Friday’s demand and anticipated requirements over the weekend.
Eskom is scheduled to announce its Summer Outlook in September 2025. –SAnews.gov.za
