Eskom confident of reaching a year without loadshedding on 26 March
Eskom has managed to keep the lights on for 300 consecutive days, a milestone last reached in June 2018.
Picture: Pexels/George Becker 331209
Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena joins Africa Melane to discuss the milestone of 300 days without loadshedding.
Listen below:
South Africans have enjoyed a continuous stretch of 300 days with uninterrupted electricity supply; a feat last seen in 2018.
The power utility puts it down to the implementation of the Generation Recovery Plan in March 2023.
Mokwena says the likelihood of the country making it to a full year without scheduled blackouts is 'very high'.
"... all our teams, the 40,000 Eskom guardians... are just looking forward to celebrating that milestone on the 26th of March 2025."
- Daphne Mokwena, Eskom
Mokwena says the lack of blackouts has been possible to due the significant reduction in unplanned outages, one of the utility's biggest and longest-running challenges.
"One of the key things one needs to focus on when you want to increase your energy availability factor is to reduce your unplanned losses."
- Daphne Mokwena, Eskom
"We focused on the key power stations that contributed 70% to the energy losses or the unplanned outages. Those power stations are performing well, some over 70%..."
- Daphne Mokwena, Eskom
She adds that by the end of March, another 2,500 megawatts of capacity is expected to come online.
"Of which 800 megawatts from Kusile Unit Six will be new megawatts we will be putting into the grid."
- Daphne Mokwena, Eskom
And what of reports of load reduction in part of Gauteng, asks Melane.
Some residents claim they have experienced up to five hours a day of reduced supply.
"Load reduction has nothing to do with loadshedding... With load reduction, it's localised. You're talking about certain areas in the country where... the network in that area is overloaded."
- Daphne Mokwena, Eskom
Mokwena says the root causes of this 'overloading' are energy theft and illegal connections.
ALSO READ: Ninety-One links 75% of previous rand weakness to loadshedding
Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.