Eskom reports that South Africa has reached 105 consecutive days without loadshedding, with the national grid remaining stable as the winter season concludes. The utility attributes the milestone to consistently low levels of unplanned outages and improved generation performance.
"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 stated.
Eskom has met more than 97% of electricity demand this winter and for the 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 averaged 6,968MW. During the same period, the Energy Availability Factor (EAF) ranged from 64% to 75%, with the month-to-date average rising to 66.15%. These figures exclude Kusile Unit 6, which has provided 720MW since 23 March 2025 and is expected to enter commercial operation in 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," the utility noted.
From 1 April to 28 August 2025, the Unplanned Capability Loss Factor (UCLF) decreased to 27.3%. This marks a week-on-week improvement of 0.55%, though it remains 1.6% higher than the 25.67% recorded during the same period in 2024.
The open-cycle gas turbine (OCGT) load factor dropped to 0.16% this week, down from 0.78% in the previous week, with OCGTs used only during morning and evening peaks. Diesel expenditure remains well under the allocated budget.
The Winter Outlook, issued on 5 May 2025, indicated that loadshedding would not be necessary if unplanned outages remained below 13,000MW. With two days left in the Winter Outlook period, Eskom confirms that the power system is positioned to meet demand.
Available generation capacity currently stands at 29,132MW, while Friday's demand was expected at 25,797MW. Eskom will announce its Summer Outlook in September 2025.
Source: SA News
