Eskom has powered South Africa through the entire 2026 winter without load shedding, despite periods of heavy cloud cover that reduced rooftop solar generation.
The utility said its improved generation performance had driven the stability, with its year-to-date Energy Availability Factor rising to 67.79% – the highest since 2020. Unplanned outages also fell from 34.48% to 19.47%.
Eskom said these improvements restored 6 888MW of generation capacity compared with three years ago, helping it meet winter demand while reducing reliance on expensive diesel-fired turbines.
The country has now gone about 476 days without load shedding, which Eskom attributed to improved plant reliability, fewer breakdowns and stronger maintenance.
Meanwhile, Eskom’s Load Reduction Eradication Programme has restored around 1.2 million customers to normal supply conditions. Seven provinces are now free of load reduction, with 1.22 million customers - about 72% of the 1.69 million targeted - no longer affected.
The utility said its improved generation performance had driven the stability, with its year-to-date Energy Availability Factor rising to 67.79% – the highest since 2020. Unplanned outages also fell from 34.48% to 19.47%.
Eskom said these improvements restored 6 888MW of generation capacity compared with three years ago, helping it meet winter demand while reducing reliance on expensive diesel-fired turbines.
The country has now gone about 476 days without load shedding, which Eskom attributed to improved plant reliability, fewer breakdowns and stronger maintenance.
Meanwhile, Eskom’s Load Reduction Eradication Programme has restored around 1.2 million customers to normal supply conditions. Seven provinces are now free of load reduction, with 1.22 million customers - about 72% of the 1.69 million targeted - no longer affected.
