Eskom’s secret to keeping the lights on

Part of Eskom’s ability to prevent load-shedding in 2024 was due to the power utility providing staff with performance-based incentives, the Sunday Times reports.
This was part of a plan formulated by Eskom, the National Treasury, and the Ministry of Electricity to pay staff bonuses for improved performance.
However, these incentives are only given to staff who contribute directly to structural improvements in the power system, which can be measured, said Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena.
These are particularly prevalent at power stations and are linked to daily targets.
National Treasury told the Sunday Times that Eskom can only provide performance-based incentives if they do not negatively affect the utility’s financial sustainability.
It also said that the VGBe Consortium report, commissioned by the Treasury in 2023, proposed boosting staff morale by utilising these incentives.
Eskom’s generation fleet noticed a structural improvement in performance in January, after 289 consecutive days without load-shedding, said Mokwena, allowing the utility to save R16.3 billion on diesel expenditure.
This was 63.4% less than the previous year.
Mokwena added that the unplanned generation losses for all stations from 1 April 2023 to 9 January 2024 decreased from 32.86% to 25.09% over the same period the previous year, a difference of 5.6 gigawatts.
Energy expert Chris Yelland recently described the state-owned power utility’s turnaround efforts as a “great performance”, which, in combination with reduced demand and increased supply, has allowed for load-shedding to remain suspended in South Africa.
The state utility drastically improved its energy availability factor (EAF) over the previous two years and significantly reduced its unplanned capacity loss factor (UCLF) compared to 2023.
EAF shows the percentage of time power stations were available for use when needed. It is a core measure of performance for any power utility.
“From April 2024, the week-on-week EAF trend graph for the 2024 calendar year is consistently higher than that for 2023, with planned maintenance (PCLF) consistently higher for the full 2024 calendar year and UCLF consistently lower for the full 2024 calendar year,” said Yelland.
PCLF is a measure of the ratio of Eskom power stations that are offline for planned maintenance, while UCLF can be viewed as the percentage of generating units that are offline on unplanned outages.

Many South Africans were sceptical about the abrupt and long-lasting load-shedding suspension.
However, the state-owned power utility said its improved performance came through the implementation of its Generation Operational Recovery Plan, which commenced in March 2023.
The plan focused on accelerating planned maintenance, increasing preventative maintenance, and completing major plant refurbishments and life extension projects.
Eskom focused on its six worst-performing power stations, which had contributed 70% of Eskom’s unit failure in previous years.
It noted that five power stations were performing well and thus focused on poorly performing plants as they present a higher threat of preventing the utility from meeting demand.
Despite this turnaround, it was definitely too early to predict the end of load-shedding, even if Eskom’s performance improvements continue, energy expert Mohamed Madhi told MyBroadband.
He stressed two other key reasons Eskom was able to keep the lights on in 2024 — behind-the-meter rooftop solar installations and a slowdown in economic activity.
While rooftop solar could continue reducing the country’s reliance on peaking power stations during the day, an economic recovery could impact Eskom’s ability to provide reliable electricity.
Reduced business activity — particularly mining and factory operations — significantly reduced peak and average demand on Eskom’s grid.
According to Eskom’s system status update for Week 49 of 2024, the utility recorded annual energy demand of 189,630GWh between 1 January and 8 December 2024. This was about 3% lower than over the same period in 2023.
The highest peak demand in 2024 was also around 1,000MW lower than in 2023, which already had a 1,000MW lower peak than 2022.
However, South Africa’s business environment improved significantly during the second half of the year.
The rand strengthened, inflation eased, and the Reserve Bank cut interest rates. These developments suggest greater growth in the year ahead, which would put more strain on Eskom’s grid.