Loadshedding in South Africa remains suspended. This has been the case for more than 75 days as South Africans enjoyed an interrupted supply of electricity.
Eskom says the reason for reduced loadshedding in comparison to 2023 is due to an improvement in the reliability of Eskom's generation fleet.
South Africa endured a brutal year of power outages in 2023. The country experienced a record-breaking 332 days of loadshedding, meaning there were just 33 days with an uninterrupted electricity supply. By early December, Eskom had already implemented loadshedding for more than 6,800 hours, highlighting the immense strain on the national power grid.
Eskom Board Chair Mteto Nyati said the Energy Availability Factor (EAF) has increased significantly compared to last year. EAF is a metric used in the power generation industry to measure the percentage of time a power plant (or group of plants) is capable of supplying electricity to the grid at its maximum capacity.
They anticipate that over the next 12 months, the EAF will increase to 70%
The Energy Availability Factor is sitting at about 64% and it continues to be moving up and up and that is good.
The power utility expects unplanned outages (loadshedding) to be lower than what was predicted for winter. They attribute this to increased planned maintenance during the summer months.
While no loadshedding has been forecasted yet, Eskom does not expect loadshedding to exceed Stage 2 over the next few months.
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.
City Of Johannesburg In The Dark
City Power in Johannesburg started implementing load reduction on Monday, 10 June 2024. This is due to dangerously high electricity use. There have already been reports of power disruptions in recent days, and critical facilities like the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital are having trouble maintaining consistent electricity.
Professor Sampson Mamphweli, an energy analyst, says the recent strain on Johannesburg's power grid is due to overloaded transformers in the city's distribution network, rather than a lack of capacity from Eskom, the national power utility.
They explain that illegal connections to transformers in Johannesburg's distribution network are a significant constituent of the overload of the city’s transformers.
However, officials cannot simply disconnect these illegal connections. City Power workers face significant dangers as those making illegal connections can be hostile and potentially violent. The political landscape complicates the enforcement of disconnections.
in most cases, the people who are in charge of these illegal connections are people who are dangerous, armed and all that and they provide power to to these communities that also protect these people
Prof Mamphweli adds that there are also political considerations that are made when choosing whether or not to cut off illegal connections. However, they stress that illegal connections are illegal and must be addressed.
it's very difficult for the government to say, we are not going to be able to provide electricity to you and when you connect illegally [we] will come and remove your illegal connection
Meanwhile, Eskom has urged customers to continue to reduce their electricity consumption and report any illegal activity related to electricity.
