By Johannah Malogadihlare
Eskom has delivered 300 days, which is around nine months, of no load-shedding, a number last reached in June 2018.
It said the milestone was the outcome of Eskom implementing the its generation recovery plan since March last year.
“Credit goes to all our 40,000 dedicated and skilled Eskom employees who are committed to serve South Africa. Our sights are now firmly focused on delivering one year without load-shedding at midnight on 26th March 2025,” Eskom group executive for generation, Bheki Nxumalo said on Tuesday.
Nxumalo also said there had also been a significant reduction in unplanned outages.
This had led to a notable improvement in the energy availability factor of approximately 7%, and savings in diesel expenditure of R16.42 billion.
Eskom group CEO Dan Marokane said the action plan has boosted business confidence with credit rating agencies and banks.
Morokane further said that the power utility’s performance recovery was a key contributor towards positive sentiments as far as South Africa’s GDP growth prospects were concerned, up 2%.
“The savings we are making in diesel spend are invested in the business to drive efficiencies further and place Eskom on a path to profitability and long-term operational and financial sustainability,” Morokane said in a statement.
He said Eskom would continue to focus on implementing generation recovery, strengthening governance and tackling crime and corruption, while future-proofing the business to enable energy security, growth and long-term sustainability to the benefit of South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.
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