- EAF rises to 60.47% with year on year improvement of 4.48%.
- Diesel expenditure drops by 87.49% to R250.11 million.
- Unplanned outages and capacity losses show continued decline.
South Africa’s power utility Eskom continues to demonstrate improved operational stability despite persistent weather driven demand pressures and elevated levels of planned maintenance across its generation fleet. The latest performance data points to steady gains under the utility’s Generation Recovery Plan, reinforcing signs of increased resilience and cost efficiency.
For the financial year to date from 1 to 23 April 2026, Eskom recorded an Energy Availability Factor of 60.47%, up from 55.99% during the same period in the previous financial year, marking an improvement of 4.48%. This also represents a 2.45% increase compared to the corresponding period two years ago. The improvement comes despite planned maintenance averaging 7847MW, reflecting a deliberate strategy to enhance long term plant reliability and environmental compliance.
Performance gains were further supported by a reduction in unplanned outages. Between 17 and 23 April 2026, average unplanned outages declined to 12173MW, down by 1109MW from 13282MW recorded during the same period last year. This contributed to easing pressure on the national grid and improving overall system reliability.
The Unplanned Capacity Loss Factor, which measures unplanned outages, declined to 25.75%, an improvement of 2.11% compared to 27.86% recorded in the previous year. At the same time, the Planned Capacity Loss Factor rose to 16.83% from 15.78%, reflecting Eskom’s continued focus on scheduled maintenance to support sustainable operations.
A key highlight is the sharp reduction in diesel usage. Eskom reported diesel expenditure of R250.11 million for the financial year to date, significantly lower than the R1.999 billion spent during the same period last year. This equates to an 87.49% year on year decline, underscoring both improved plant performance and reduced reliance on open cycle gas turbines.
Diesel usage during the past week was primarily to meet reserve margin requirements in line with the South African grid code.
Looking ahead, Eskom plans to return 3075MW of generation capacity to service ahead of the evening peak on 27 April 2026. Forecast demand for the day is expected to reach 24948MW against available capacity of 26524MW, indicating a comfortable supply margin.
In its recently published Winter Outlook covering 1 April to 31 August 2026, Eskom projects no loadshedding, supported by sustained improvements in generation performance and ongoing execution of the recovery plan. The outlook reinforces growing confidence in the utility’s ability to maintain grid stability through the high demand winter period.
Drop in demand for Eskom power
A recent MyBroadband analysis showed that in the first 15 weeks of 2026, Eskom’s average hourly electricity demand was roughly 19,927MW, compared to 23,895MW in 2022. The average reduction of nearly 4,000MW was close to the amount of power Eskom shed under four stages of load-shedding. While Eskom’s average energy availability factor (EAF) has recovered by roughly 10% over the last two years, it is still well below pre-2020 levels.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
