<\/p>\n
SA has recorded 476 consecutive days without load-shedding since May 16, 2025, following improvements in plant reliability, maintenance and generation performance.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Eskom\u2019s financial year-to-date Energy Availability Factor (EAF) reached 67.79% by September 3, 2026, the highest level since 2020 and above the 61.3% recorded during the corresponding period last year.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Unplanned outages declined to 19.47% from 26.99% year-on-year. Average unplanned outages have fallen by 6 888MW over three years, from 16 097MW to 9 209MW.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Improved generation reduced reliance on diesel-powered Open-Cycle Gas Turbines (OCGTs). Diesel expenditure between April 1 and September 3, 2026, fell by 81.64% from the corresponding period last year.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The OCGT load factor dropped to 1.11% from 7.92%, remaining below Eskom\u2019s annual target of 3%. OCGT electricity generation also declined by 86.01% year-on-year to 140.06GWh.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Planned maintenance averaged 5 932MW during the financial year to date, accounting for 12.54% of generation capacity. The figure stood at 5 266MW during the corresponding period last year.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Eskom also maintained 6 220MW in cold reserves because of excess capacity.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Progress continued under the Load Reduction Eradication Programme, with about 1.2 million customers restored to normal electricity supply. Seven of SA\u2019s nine provinces are now free from load reduction.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Eskom has removed 571 feeders from load reduction, representing 59% of the programme\u2019s target of 971. The programme is expected to benefit 1.69 million customers and eliminate load reduction nationally by March 2027.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A total of 512 257 smart meters have been installed on affected feeders, representing 89% of the target for high-priority areas.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
However, resistance, intimidation, safety incidents and work stoppages have delayed more than 122 000 planned installations.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Eskom said illegal connections and meter tampering continued to damage infrastructure in some communities. Load reduction will remain a temporary measure in high-risk areas while Eskom expands smart metering, Distributed Energy Resources and Free Basic Electricity support.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":42060,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-44734","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"South Africa (SA) completed the 2026 winter period without load-shedding as power producer Eskom met electricity demand despite reduced rooftop solar generation during overcast weather.","published_date":"","news_description":"South Africa (SA) completed the 2026 winter period without load-shedding as power producer Eskom met electricity demand despite reduced rooftop solar generation during overcast weather.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44734\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44735,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44734\/revisions\/44735"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=44734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}