Eskom has issued its newest Power Alert, sharing important information about how the country’s electricity system is holding up and what that means for possible loadshedding in the coming days.
Here’s a simple breakdown of what you need to know.
Eskom provides update on the state of the power system
Eskom says the national power grid is stable but still under a bit of pressure. That means electricity is flowing without major interruptions, but there isn’t much room for problems to develop.
To help cover busy times—like cold mornings and evenings—Eskom is using emergency “reserves.” These include diesel-powered generators that kick in when demand is high. This is only a short-term fix and not ideal for long-term use.
In the past week (6 to 12 June), Eskom has been doing well with planned maintenance, having returned about 3,170 MWof generation capacity ahead of the peak on Tuesday evening, 17 June. That’s enough to power around two million average households. Planned breakdowns now average around –4,087 MW, showing progress in getting plants back online.
A key measure Eskom watches is the Energy Availability Factor (EAF). This number shows how much of their total power-generating equipment is working at any time. Currently, EAF is between 60% and 64%, meaning roughly four out of every ten power units are either offline or under repair.
What’s the likelihood of loadshedding?
The biggest concern is unplanned outages—when equipment suddenly breaks down. Such breakdowns are higher than Eskom wants. The weekly average for unplanned outages is around 14,738 MW, which is 1,738 MW above the safe limit of 13,000 MW. For the year-to-date, it’s 13,871 MW, still above target.
In simple terms: Eskom has said that as long as unplanned equipment failures stay below 13,000 MW, the country shouldn’t need loadshedding over the winter. If that number hits 15,000 MW, however, Eskom warned it may have to impose loadshedding for up to 21 days between now and the end of August, limited to Stage 2 (which means scheduled blackouts of about 2‑4 hours, typically at peak times).
What’s causing the high unplanned outage numbers? One reason is the delay in bringing Medupi Unit 4 back into service—this alone is around 800 MW. Also, Eskom has been increasing the use of expensive diesel generators (Open‑Cycle Gas Turbine, or OCGT).
Diesel usage has jumped: they’ve produced 716.35 GWh so far this financial year—double last year’s 321.16 GWh.
The current OCGT load factor is 14.79%, up from 6.31% last week. So while these generators help, they’re a costly and unsustainable backup.
To prevent more stress on the power system, Eskom has urged households to:
- Avoid illegal electricity connections that overload transformers and cause faults.
- Purchase power only from approved vendors and register for free basic electricity through local municipalities.
- Use electricity wisely—turn off heavy-use appliances like geysers and heaters during peak times (17:00– 22:00).
Eskom will issue another update on Friday, 20 June, or sooner if there are major changes.
