Great news about Eskom performance – and load-shedding

Eskom’s performance improved significantly in recent weeks, which allowed the power utility to suspend load-shedding for longer periods.

Energy analyst Chris Yelland recently published data which showed that Eskom’s energy availability factor (EAF) for week 41 in 2023 was 58.83%.

The EAF shows the percentage of time the power station was available for use when it was needed. It is a core measure of performance for any power utility.

The EAF for the 2023 calendar year to week 41 was 54.71%. It was 59.18% for the same period last year.

The year-to-date figure does not tell the full story. Over the last few weeks, there has been a significant improvement in the EAF.

Yelland explained that the gap between the week-on-week EAF trend graphs from the beginning of the 2022 and 2023 calendar years has been closing.

“We are still not where we want it to be. Far from it. We are not even at 60% yet,” Yelland said in an SABC interview.

However, the EAF has been increasing and hovering at the same levels it was in 2022. It is the first time in years such an improvement was seen.

“There has been a steady improvement. We should congratulate Eskom, its power station employees, and the Electricity Minister,” Yelland said.

“They have all been working hard to fix the problems, and step by step, the energy availability gap is closing.”

Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa is confident South Africa has turned the corner regarding load-shedding.

He said their improved maintenance strategy is starting to bear fruit and has increased the energy availability factor.

Eskom energy availability factor

The chart below, courtesy of Yelland and EE Business Intelligence, shows Eskom’s EAF for the first 41 weeks of the 2023 calendar year.