Loadshedding suspension continues at 135 days of constant energy supply and R9.59 billion reduction in diesel expenditure mark reached

Friday, 09 August 2024: The suspension of loadshedding remains ongoing, marking 135 consecutive days of uninterrupted power supply since 26 March 2024, including 101 days of constant supply throughout the winter period. There has been no loadshedding since the beginning of Eskom’s current financial year, which commenced on 01 April 2024.

The Generation Operational Recovery Plan continues to deliver efficiencies for Eskom, with R9.59 billion reduction in Open-Cycle Gas Turbines (OCGTs) diesel expenditure from 01 April 2024 to 07 August 2024, compared to the same period last year.

The last time South Africa experienced over four months of loadshedding suspension was more than four years ago, from 16 March 2020 to 09 July 2020, when loadshedding was suspended for 116 days.

Eskom maintained an average Energy Availability Factor (EAF) of 68% over the past seven days.

In the month of July, Eskom achieved an EAF of 67.41%. The last time we achieved this performance was in July 2021.

Over the past seven days, Medupi, Majuba, Matla, Lethabo, Kusile and the peaking stations recorded an EAF greater than 70%. Additionally, four more power stations achieved an EAF above 60%. Notably, five of these stations were part of the priority list in our recovery plan.

Eskom’s operational efficiency continues to surpass its winter assumptions, with current unplanned outages averaging between 9 800MW and 12 400MW since 01 April 2024 – the start of Eskom’s Financial Year (FY) 2025. Today’s figure is at 10 757MW and is still significantly lower than the winter 2024 forecast.

The winter forecast, published on 26 April 2024, anticipated a likely scenario of unplanned outages at 15 500MW and loadshedding limited to Stage 2 – this remains in force.

Key Performance Highlights:

Reduction in unplanned outages

• The Unplanned Capacity Loss Factor (UCLF) continues to be on a downward trend at 25.99% for the financial year to date (01 April 2024 to 08 August 2024), improving from 34.78% in the corresponding period last year.
• This reduction in UCLF represents an ~ 8.8% improvement in the current financial year (01 April 2024 to 08 August 2024) compared to the same period last year.
• The unplanned outages of the generation units averaged 10 508MW during the past 7 days compared to 15 605MW in the corresponding week last year.

Planned Maintenance

The ongoing planned maintenance increased to 5 634MW, aligning with our winter maintenance strategy, bolstered by short-term maintenance to ensure continuous plant reliability.

Sustained Energy Availability Factor (EAF) improvement

• The year-to-date (01 April 2024 to 08 August 2024) EAF increased to 63.22%. This is a significant improvement of ~ 8% compared to the same period last year (01 April 2023 to 08 August 2023), when the EAF was 55.32%.
• The weekly EAF has moved from 57.0% at the beginning of the financial year to 67.26% from 05 August to 08 August 2024, a significant improvement of 10.26%.
• The EAF improvement is primarily due to a drop in the unplanned outages (UCLF and OCLF) of the generation units.

Continued strategic utilisation of Open-Cycle Gas Turbines (OCGTs)

Our strategic use of peaking stations, including pumped storage and OCGTs, remains key in managing electricity demand during peak times, particularly during evening peaks (from 17:00 to 22:00).

• Our diesel consumption remains significantly below the projected figures for this winter and is considerably lower than the past two years from 01 April 2024 to 07 August 2024.
• Eskom’s expenditure on OCGTs between 01 April and 07 August 2024 was R3.48 billion, generating 509.42GWh, approximately 73% (R9.59 billion) less than the R13.07 billion spent last year over the same period for 2 178.73GWh.
• The OCGT load factor for 1 April to 07 August 2024 continued to be much lower at 4.82% compared to last year’s figure of 20.61% over the same period.
• The OCGT load factor for 01 August to 07 August 2024 was 2.83%, significantly lower than last year’s figure of 11.09% over the same period.
• Eskom’s diesel usage remains below the published winter forecast and year-to-date budget, with a favourable variance of approximately R4.2 billion by the end of July.

A total of ~ 3 690MW of generating capacity is scheduled to return to service by Monday, 12 August 2024.

‘Save Your Transformers, Save Lives’ campaign

While loadshedding remains suspended, Eskom continues to face network overloading issues in certain local areas. These problems stem from illegal connections, vandalism, meter tampering, unauthorised network operations, theft of network equipment, and purchasing electricity from unlicensed vendors.

To prevent public safety hazards and the risk of network overloading which can lead to load reduction measures and extended unplanned power outages, Eskom strongly urges customers to avoid illegal connections, as this can negatively impact the entire local community. It is also essential for customers to ensure they purchase electricity only from authorised vendors.

Eskom implores the public to play an active role in safeguarding the integrity of the power network by reporting any illegal activities to the Eskom Crime Line at 0800 112 722 or via WhatsApp at 081 333 3323.

We will provide an update next Friday, 16 August 2024, or promptly communicate any significant changes as soon as they occur.

Statement issued by 9 August 2024