Eskom blows South Africa away

Eskom has silenced even the most vocal critics after achieving four months without load-shedding during its most challenging time, winter.

On Friday, Eskom announced that it suspended load-shedding for 114 consecutive days due to an improved performance of its generation fleet.

It said its Generation Recovery Plan, implemented in March 2023, continues to deliver efficiencies for Eskom.

Eskom reduced its diesel expenditure on Open-Cycle Gas Turbines (OCGTs) by R8.08 billion from 1 April 2024 to 18 July 2024 compared to the same period last year.

The continued load-shedding reprieve contrasts the prediction from many people who alleged it was an election ploy.

The ANC was set to lose support because of load-shedding, which sparked speculation that the ruling party orchestrated the load-shedding reprieve.

Theories include that Eskom burned billions in diesel to keep the lights on and delayed maintenance until after the elections.

EFF leader Julius Malema was one of the critics who claimed that the ANC used load-shedding as an election gimmick

“Load shedding will happen immediately after the elections. We mustn’t fall for that trap,” Malema said ahead of the elections.

Former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter also added fuel to the fire, claiming that burning diesel was behind the load-shedding reprieve.

“If the lights are on, well done. However, they are on because we are pouring money into diesel at a rate of knots,” he said.

Eskom chairman Mteto Nyati dismissed the theories that the uninterrupted power supply was linked to the elections.

“The Eskom board is not driving the agenda of any political party. We are not playing any political games,” he said.

He credited Eskom’s improved maintenance plan, which focuses on accelerating and executing planned maintenance.

Nyati added that South Africans could judge for themselves after the elections as to who was right.

Two months after the national elections, there is still no load-shedding. Eskom said its maintenance plan continues to improve the reliability of its coal fleet.

The last time South Africa experienced such a prolonged load-shedding suspension was nearly four years ago, between 08 September 2020 and 11 December 2020.

Six power stations, Kusile, Kendal, Matimba, Matla, Majuba and Grootvlei, recorded an Energy Availability Factor (EAF) greater than 70%.

Eskom’s operational efficiency continues to surpass planned expectations, with current unplanned outages averaging 12,800MW since 1 April 2024.

The winter forecast, published on 26 April 2024, anticipated a likely scenario of unplanned outages at 15 500MW and load-shedding limited to Stage 2.

Although this remains in force, Eskom’s performance has surpassed the expectations of most stakeholders.

The weekly EAF has moved from 57.0% at the beginning of the financial year to 67.38% from 15 July to 18 July 2024, a significant improvement of 10.38%.

The EAF improvement is primarily due to a drop in the unplanned outages of the generation units, which averaged 12,000 MW during the past seven days.

Eskom did not compromise on maintenance to keep the lights on. The ongoing planned maintenance of 4,208MW aligns with its winter maintenance strategy.

It also saved on diesel. Its diesel consumption remains under the projected figures for this winter and is considerably lower than in the past two years.

On Thursday, Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said Eskom’s turnaround is not a miracle. “It is a calculated and orchestrated engineering effort,” he said.

He took aim at critics who accused Eskom and the government of playing politics before the national elections regarding load-shedding.

“We were accused that the uninterrupted power supply was an election gimmick and that load-shedding will return after the elections,” he said.

“EFF leader Julius Malema was prophetic by predicting that the lights will go off right after the elections.”

He said it has now been 113 days without load-shedding. He poked fun at the critics, saying they should be educated on the engineer behind Eskom’s success.