Eskom says more than 140 000 customers are no longer subject to load reduction during peak periods, as the utility makes progress on a programme to eliminate the practice entirely by 2027.

Load reduction – distinct from load shedding – is a targeted measure Eskom uses in areas plagued by illegal connections, meter tampering and overloaded infrastructure. While load shedding involves rolling blackouts across the grid when generation capacity falls short of demand, load reduction sees Eskom deliberately curtail supply to specific feeders where electricity theft and infrastructure abuse threaten the safety and stability of the local network.

Central to Eskom’s strategy to eliminate load reduction is the roll-out of smart meters in high-loss areas. To date, 299 236 smart meters have been installed nationally, with roughly 104 000 of those deployed on feeders affected by load reduction. About 90% of these installations are concentrated in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal, where network risk is highest.

The programme targets 577 347 smart meter installations on load reduction feeders by March 2026, meaning current progress sits at about 17% of the end-state target.

However, the roll-out has not been without difficulty. Eskom says installation teams continue to face intimidation, violent incidents and work stoppages in affected communities, resulting in about 122 000 planned meter conversions being delayed.

On the feeder front, 116 of a targeted 271 feeders have been removed from load reduction so far this financial year. The strongest progress has been in the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal, where 54 of 94 targeted feeders have been removed, and in the Eastern and Western Cape, where nine of 15 have been cleared. Gauteng, which has the largest target, has seen 40 of 126 feeders removed.

EAF

Of the 577 347 customers targeted for relief by March 2026, about 140 000 are now benefiting, leaving some 437 000 still to be addressed.

The load reduction progress comes against a backdrop of markedly improved generation performance. South Africa has now gone 266 consecutive days without an interrupted power supply, with only 26 hours of load shedding recorded in the current financial year – occurring in April and May 2025.

Eskom’s energy availability factor (EAF) – the key measure of how much of the generation fleet is available to produce electricity – has risen to 65.03% for the financial year to date. The utility says the fleet has reached or exceeded the 70% EAF threshold on 66 occasions this year.

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Unplanned outages have dropped significantly, averaging 9.2GW in the week to 5 February, down from 13.4GW in the same period last year – an improvement of more than 4.2GW.

The generation gains have had a direct impact on Eskom’s finances. Diesel expenditure – driven by the costly open-cycle gas turbines the utility fires up when the coal fleet falters – is R4.8-billion lower than at the same point last year, a 43.6% year-on-year reduction. No diesel was used in the past week.

Eskom’s summer outlook, published in September 2025, projects no load shedding for the remainder of the season, citing sustained improvements from its generation recovery plan.

The utility says it had 5.9GW in cold reserve – mothballed capacity held back due to surplus supply – and forecast a healthy reserve margin for the coming week, with 26.8GW of available capacity against an expected evening peak demand on Monday of 23.6GW.

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