Eskom is finally making headway in keeping the country’s lights on. A key improvement has been an uptick in the energy availability factor (EAF), the average percentage of Eskom’s installed capacity that is in working order and ready to run if needed.

In the last week of July, Eskom power stations had an EAF of 71%, a significant improvement from the start of the year when its power stations had an EAF of 49%. The power utility has promised to achieve an average EAF of 70% by March 2025.

Fewer unplanned outages from breakdowns and better maintenance have resulted in fewer hours of rolling blackouts. Between January and August 2024, South Africa had 83 days of loadshedding. Last year, 335 days were affected by loadshedding.

Note: EAF excludes energy produced by renewables, independent power producers and international imports.