High prices and declining customers slowly killing Eskom

[Jan]

Eskom has a new enemy

The latest estimates from the National Transmission Company of South Africa (NTCSA) show the peak generating capacity of private solar power has surged by more than a third from a year ago.

According to the NTCSA's system status update for the 29th week of 2026, South Africa's estimated behind-the-meter rooftop solar power capacity reached 9,107.4MW in June 2026.

 

[EmmanuelGoldstein]

And what will the comrades do... SOLAR TAX, SUNSHINE TAX

 

[wingnut771]

What problem?

 

[Gordon_R]

High prices and declining customers slowly killing Eskom

This headline can be repeated indefinitely. It will remain true forever into the future. As long as long as the sun continues to shine...

 

[purrr]

And there you have it. We did it. Eskom did ****all.

9GW is five Koeberg power stations.

 

[Gordon_R]

And there you have it. We did it. Eskom did ****all.

9GW is five Koeberg power stations.

9GW is only the nominal daytime power rating. There is still a lot of peak hour demand, and battery capacity needed.

 

[purrr]

9GW is only the nominal daytime power rating. There is still a lot of peak hour demand, and battery capacity needed.

Fair enough, still impressive. And we (individuals and companies) did this, not Eskom.

 

[Gordon_R]

Fair enough, still impressive. And we (individuals and companies) did this, not Eskom.

Individuals can now do a lot of the demand shifting, by scheduling washing machines, pool pumps, and high load activities during sunny days. Businesses can do a different set of demand shifting.

 

[Corelli]

For me the final straw is when they got offered a 7% salary increase and the union called it an insult. Yet most of the country that has to pay for this got between a 3-4% annual increase.

Let the death spiral come.

 

[RedViking]

For whatever reason doesn't matter. We will still get screwed by levies and fees.

 

[Fuzzbox]

If no one use electricity your EAF would be 100%.

Eskom patting themselves on the back for reaching 75%.

Everyone is ridding themselves of relying on ESKOM.

 

[gogga_]

ESKOM got what they wanted. Us using less electricity from them. They should be smiling now hahahaha

 

[Flanders]

"High prices".

Yeah, and set to skyrocket from here with no end in sight.

 

[wingnut771]

Its going to get worse for them, munis too:

 

[porchrat]

And there you have it. We did it. Eskom did ****all.

9GW is five Koeberg power stations.

More like 3. There's significant loss pushing power to the Western Cape without Koeberg there.

 

[wingnut771]

More like 3. There's significant loss pushing power to the Western Cape without Koeberg there.

More like 14 Koebergs with the 650MW coming out of it these days?

Station build-up for the last 7 days - Eskom Data Portal

This shows how resources were used to build-up the demand over the past 7 days, and it includes both generation and demand side resources that Eskom has contracts with.

www.eskom.co.za

 

[porchrat]

More like 14 Koebergs with the 650MW coming out of it these days?
View attachment 1924600

Station build-up for the last 7 days - Eskom Data Portal

This shows how resources were used to build-up the demand over the past 7 days, and it includes both generation and demand side resources that Eskom has contracts with.

www.eskom.co.za

Nah. The loss experienced by the grid isn't just the cost of that one generating unit though.

It costs a stupid amount of loss to push the leccy all that way. It's the only generator for miles.

 

[wingnut771]

Nah. The loss experienced by the grid isn't just the cost of that one generating unit though.

It costs a stupid amount of loss to push the leccy all that way. It's the only generator for miles.

which begs the question why one unit isnt producing 900MW but rather 650MW and the other unit taking forever and an age to refuel and add another 900MW to reduce transmission losses from the other side of the country.

 

[porchrat]

which begs the question why one unit isnt producing 900MW but rather 650MW and the other unit taking forever and an age to refuel and add another 900MW to reduce transmission losses from the other side of the country.

Who knows.

I'm just saying Koeberg is worth significantly more to the grid than just the MWs it produces because of the incredible loss involved in pushing that power across the country.

 

[Gordon_R]

Who knows.

I'm just saying Koeberg is worth significantly more to the grid than just the MWs it produces because of the incredible loss involved in pushing that power across the country.

I think you are somewhat exaggerating the transmission power losses. Google says:

HVAC Systems: Lose about 6% to 10% per 1,000 km due to continuous capacitive and inductive reactive power shifts.