Eskom reports stronger power system heading into 2026

In an update on Monday, the utility said energy availability rose to 64.55%, unplanned outages dropped to 16.02%, and diesel use savings reached R16 billion.  

Eskom states that with improved maintenance and reduced reliance on emergency generators, it now delivers more consistent baseload power, thereby boosting investor confidence and supporting the country’s economic recovery. 

Eskom General Manager Eric Shunmagum says this means South Africans return from the holiday period with a power system that is structurally stronger heading into 2026.

Eskom recently reported that the generation fleet surpassed the 70% Energy Availability Factor (EAF) benchmark on 55 occasions during the current financial year.

While Shunmagum said it is not immediately possible to determine how many of these instances occurred at the eight power stations selected for focused maintenance, he highlighted overall improvements across the fleet.

“This is the fleet average, which means a combination of the 15 power stations together, and we do measure it on an hourly basis,” he said.

Comparing current performance with the previous year, Shunmagum pointed to a marked improvement in availability.

“When you look at the Energy Availability Factor, to compare it to last year this time, we were sitting at 56%. We now sit with an energy availability factor of close to 64.5%. So there’s an improvement of close to 8.5 percentage points.

The improved technical performance has also delivered substantial financial benefits, with further reductions expected in 2026.

“If we continue to perform the way we’ve been performing in recent weeks, we’re probably going to end up with a projection of just below R8 billion. And that’s a 50% reduction on last year,” Shunmagum said.

He added that Eskom’s diesel expenditure stood at nearly R33 billion in the 2024 financial year, highlighting the scale of the cost savings achieved.