Eskom saved R4.84 billion in 5 months
Eskom saved R4.84 billion on diesel expenditure year-on-year during the 2026 winter season.
Between 1 April and 3 September 2026, it spent R1.08 billion on diesel. In the same period last year, it spent R5.93 billion
This constitutes an 81.64% decline in diesel expenditure – and Eskom said this was possible thanks to two reasons.
“Eskom’s year-to-date Energy Availability Factor (EAF) has risen to 67.79%, its highest level since 2020, while unplanned outages have reduced from 34.48% to 19.47%,” said Eskom in a statement.
“Together, these improvements have restored 6,888MW of generation capacity to the grid compared to three years ago, almost equivalent to the combined capacity of Kusile and Kriel power stations.”
Eskom said these gains prove the success of Eskom’s turnaround strategy and its contribution towards national economic growth.
In fact, Eskom even noted that it currently has 6,220MW of system capacity in cold reserve due to excess capacity.
Load reduction nearly over
Other successes in recent months include the Load Reduction Eradication Programme.
According to Eskom, about 1.2 million customers have been moved from load reduction to normal supply.
Furthermore, seven of South Africa’s nine provinces are completely free from load reduction.
Load-reduction is implemented in high-risk areas where illegal connections and meter tampering are prevalent.
To solve these challenges, Eskom is rolling out smart meters, expanding its Free Basic Electricity support, and integrating Distributed Energy Resources.
So far, 512,257 smart meters have been installed on load reduction feeders, which is approximately 89% of the 577,347 target.
Most installations are found in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, and KwaZulu-Natal, as this is where network pressure is the highest.
Eskom maintains that it will completely eradicate load reduction by March 2027.
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Saving anything in a SOE is no small thing …well normally . The fact that less fuel was used ok great , the main factor is mostly that the demand is a lot less .
Due to large private installations of solar by users eg , checkers , large corporations and mines . Also factories used less energy due to either less production and or closure . The energy experts on these matters will mostly agree and have more facts to add. This is not all thanks to eskoms efforts that this was saved .
We all hope this savings continue so we are spared huge 8.3% increase they are asking for from NERSA for 2027. Also they can then lower tarrifs and not have such enormuos salary increases . The taxpayers carried this SOE for years …we are asking the dividends to be paid due to the overburdened taxpayers .