JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s state power utility, Eskom, suspended rotational blackouts on Sunday after emergency reserves recovered. The blackouts, known as load shedding, began on Friday.
“Load shedding has been suspended as of 6 am on Sunday (2 February), due to the sufficient replenishment of emergency reserves,” Eskom said in a statement.
The power cuts, which reached Stage 3 for the first time in over 10 months, were described by Eskom as a “temporary setback” following more than 10 months of uninterrupted electricity supply. The utility attributed the improved performance to the effectiveness of its Generation Recovery Plan.
Eskom said several breakdowns over the past week necessitated extended repair times and the full use of its emergency reserves. Since then, dam levels have been fully replenished, and open-cycle gas turbines adequately recovered. Five coal-fired generation units have returned to service, adding 2,930MW to the grid. An additional 2,391MW was expected to be restored on Sunday.
Eskom says load shedding largely “behind us”
“With load shedding largely behind us, the structural improvements and efficiency gains we have made in our coal-fired generation fleet are secure,” Eskom said. While diesel was used this week due to breakdowns, the utility highlighted savings of over R16.3 billion in diesel costs from 1 April 2024 to 30 January 2025 due to the absence of load shedding.
The company reassured South Africans and businesses that its Summer Outlook, published on 26 August 2024, remains unchanged. Unplanned outages stand at 13,279MW and are trending downward, averaging 12,087MW. Planned maintenance outages account for 6,298MW. With available capacity of 27,957MW and an evening peak demand forecast of 24,456MW, Eskom said it is confident in meeting electricity demand.
The utility continues to face network overloading issues in some areas due to illegal connections, vandalism, and other illicit activities. Eskom urged the public to report such activities and to purchase electricity only from authorised vendors. A further update is expected on Friday, 7 February 2025.
South Africa‘s Electricity Minister Kgosientso Ramokgopa welcomed the suspension of load shedding in a post on X on Sunday.
