Eskom Quiet as Load-Shedding Lingers Despite Promised End

South Africans hoping for a lights-on April are still in the dark despite earlier promises, there’s been no official word from Eskom on when load-shedding will end, even though Eskom board chair Mteto Nyati had assured the public that an announcement would come this month.

Speaking in February, Nyati said he, CEO Dan Marokane, and Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa would be ready to tell the country that load-shedding was over. “We are now like two or three months away from the end of that two years,” Nyati said then, referring to Eskom’s Generation Operational Recovery Plan adopted in March 2023. “At the end of that plan is when we can come back… and communicate to South Africa that there’s not going to be load-shedding.”

But two weeks into April, neither Nyati nor Eskom has made that announcement. Part of Eskom’s recovery plan hinged on getting key units at Kusile and Medupi power stations back online. On 23 March, Eskom said Kusile Unit 6 had been synchronised to the grid, but full commercial operation isn’t expected until the second half of 2025. Medupi Unit 4’s return has also been delayed, with Eskom now aiming for between end-April and early May 2025.

The delay doesn’t fully explain why the utility’s overall plant performance continues to miss the mark. Eskom’s energy availability factor (EAF) a measure of how much electricity its power stations can produce, has averaged just 56.66% this year. That’s even lower than last year’s 59.78% and far off the 70% once touted as the threshold for ending load-shedding.

Back in January 2023, then-Eskom chair Mpho Makwana laid out targets of 60% EAF by March 2023, 65% by 2024, and 70% by 2025. Nyati’s team has since taken a less numbers-driven approach, though the goal remains the same: stable, reliable power. In August 2024, Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena said that hitting 70% EAF would mean the grid could meet peak demand, particularly in winter. But since then, the average has only briefly touched that mark, and only for one week in mid-2024.

Even with electricity demand falling, according to Stellenbosch University’s Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies, Eskom still struggles to meet supply. Several sudden unit failures earlier this year forced the return of load-shedding, despite months of planned maintenance.

When asked by MyBroadband why the promised April announcement hasn’t happened, Nyati passed the query on to Eskom. The utility declined to respond, saying it would give an update at a future briefing. “We believe it would be prudent… to include updates on the progress of its EAF and overall Generation Operational Recovery Plan,” Mokwena said. That briefing is expected sometime this April, but with no date set, South Africans may be waiting a while longer.