By Mapaballo Borotho
- South Africa has officially marked one full year without load shedding, the first such milestone since 2018.
- Eskom says the achievement reflects a major turnaround in the country’s power system following years of severe electricity cuts.
- Government and Eskom officials say the focus is now shifting towards ending load reduction and maintaining long-term grid stability.
Today marks exactly one year since Eskom last implemented load shedding.
The power utility says this milestone was last achieved eight years ago, in September 2018.
Eskom described the development as a structural shift from a recovering electricity grid to a stable and high-performing power system.
Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said government is now focused on ending load reduction in affected communities.
The achievement marks a major turnaround for the embattled state-owned power utility, which in 2023 implemented load shedding on more than 300 days and frequently resorted to stage 6 power cuts that severely affected economic activity and small businesses.
By 2025, rolling blackouts had become less frequent, while this year they have not been implemented at all.
Eskom has attributed the recovery to its Generation Recovery Plan launched in April 2023, which prioritised intensive planned maintenance, reducing unplanned breakdowns and returning to original equipment manufacturers to repair problem power stations.
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