South Africa has hit a power milestone that many households and businesses would have treated as fantasy not long ago: a full year without load shedding. The last time Eskom imposed rolling blackouts was in mid-May 2025, and since then the national grid has held steady through a period that has surprised even some of the utility’s harshest critics.
For millions of South Africans, that means something simple but profound: no frantic dinner-time planning around stage notices, no rushed backup charging before nightfall, and no daily anxiety that the lights will go out in the middle of work, school or surgery. In a country where power cuts once shaped everything from retail sales to family routines, the return of reliable electricity has been one of the clearest signs yet that the crisis has eased.
The turnaround is especially striking when set against 2023, when South Africans endured more than 300 days of load shedding. Back then, stage 6 cuts were not unusual, with factories slowing down, data centres burning through expensive backup power and small businesses taking the hardest knock. The economic damage ran into billions of rand, and for many people, confidence in the grid was at rock bottom.
By last year, the picture had started to improve, but the current run of stability has now gone much further. What was once a daily national emergency has become, at least for the moment, an exception rather than the norm. That matters not just politically, but economically, because stable electricity remains one of the most basic building blocks for growth, investment and jobs.
Eskom says the progress is the result of its generation recovery plan, launched in April 2023. The utility has focused on more intensive planned maintenance, tighter control of unplanned breakdowns and a return to original equipment manufacturers for repairs at some of the worst-performing power stations. In plain language, that means more disciplined upkeep, fewer emergency failures and better-quality fixes when equipment does fail.
The numbers behind the recovery are hard to ignore. Eskom says the plan has added 4.4GW of available capacity compared with the same period last year. Its key reliability measure, the energy availability factor, has also risen steadily after years stuck in the painful 50% to 60% range that became synonymous with the power crisis.
One of the biggest contributors has been the gradual full commissioning of Kusile power station, the 4.8GW coal-fired plant that was for years dogged by unit failures and technical problems. Kusile’s improved performance has helped stabilise supply, especially during periods when the grid would previously have been forced into emergency mode.
At the same time, Eskom has been able to reduce reliance on the expensive open-cycle gas turbines that were often used as a last resort to keep the lights on. Those diesel-burning units kept homes and businesses going, but at a steep cost to the public purse. Their more limited use now reflects a system that is, at least for now, under less strain.
Why the load shedding comeback has been delayed
The phrase load shedding in South Africa still carries weight, because the country has not simply solved its electricity problems. Instead, the improvement has been helped along by a mix of state action and private-sector response. One of the biggest shifts has been the rapid growth in rooftop solar, which has reduced pressure on the grid during daylight hours.
That boom was boosted by tax incentives introduced in 2023, which encouraged households and businesses to install behind-the-meter solar PV. Thousands of properties across the country now generate at least part of their own electricity, and while that does not eliminate reliance on Eskom, it does ease demand in a meaningful way.
Policy changes have also opened the door for larger private power projects. The lifting of the 100MW licensing threshold in 2022, followed by its later complete removal, allowed more companies to move ahead with generation plans without the regulatory bottlenecks that once slowed them down. That has led to more corporate wheeling agreements and fresh private investment into the sector.
The political backdrop has mattered too. Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2023, has been one of the key faces of the turnaround effort. He has worked closely with Eskom and the National Energy Crisis Committee to try to keep the reform process moving.
As we reported earlier, the government’s broader energy reset has continued under the government of national unity formed after the 2024 elections. One of the most important structural changes has been the creation of a separate National Transmission Company in 2024, part of the long-promised unbundling of Eskom that aims to make the system more competitive and more transparent over time.
Still, the good news has come with a cost. Consumers have not been spared from the financial fallout of the recovery effort. Nersa-approved tariff increases have pushed electricity bills higher since 2023, and for many households and businesses, the relief of fewer blackouts has been tempered by the reality of much steeper monthly costs.
Eskom is also still asking for further tariff hikes to help fund grid investment. That is where the debate becomes politically sensitive: South Africans want reliable power, but they are also being asked to pay for the infrastructure and maintenance required to keep it that way. For low-income households and labour-intensive businesses, that tension is becoming harder to ignore.
There are still reasons for caution. Eskom’s own medium-term system adequacy outlook, published in October last year, warned that load shedding could return towards the end of the decade. The report points to the planned retirement of 5.3GW of coal capacity as the main risk, with possible supply shortages emerging in 2029 and 2030.
That warning is important because it reminds us that South Africa’s electricity recovery is real, but fragile. The country has bought time, not a permanent solution. If new generation, transmission upgrades and regulatory reforms do not keep pace with rising demand and ageing coal retirements, the old problems could return in a new form.
For now, though, the national mood is likely to be one of relief. After years of uncertainty, 12 months without load shedding is no small feat. It reflects hard work at Eskom, political pressure from government and a growing role for private generation. But the next test will be whether South Africa can hold on to this stability long enough to turn it into something lasting.