Eskom has reported that 202,590 customers in South Africa remain affected by load reduction, a measure aimed at protecting overloaded electricity networks. The utility's latest update, released on Friday, 2 October 2026, revealed that load reduction restrictions are currently confined to parts of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. This development comes as Eskom continues its efforts to eliminate load reduction by March 2027.
According to Eskom's power-system update, 593 electricity feeders have been removed from load reduction under its eradication programme. This represents an increase of 15 feeders from the 578 recorded in the previous update on 25 September 2026. The increase was primarily observed in the combined Free State and KwaZulu-Natal grouping, where the number of feeders removed rose from 135 to 150.
Eskom has successfully removed load reduction restrictions from seven provinces, with the Free State being one of them. The utility reported that about 1.49 million customers were no longer affected by load reduction, representing approximately 88% of the 1.69 million targeted by the programme. Eskom's goal is to eliminate the remaining restrictions by March 2027.
Load reduction is a targeted measure that involves local power cuts to protect overloaded electricity networks, distinct from nationwide loadshedding caused by insufficient generation to meet demand. Eskom's generation performance has been improving, with the utility reporting 504 consecutive days without loadshedding since 16 May 2025, compared to 497 days in the previous weekly report.
Eskom's energy availability factor, which tracks how much generating capacity is available, averaged 69.72% from 25 September to 1 October 2026. This was lower than the previous week's 70.44% but above the 66.92% recorded in the corresponding week last year. The financial-year-to-date availability factor edged up from 68.06% to 68.11%.
The average unplanned outages increased from 7,622MW in the previous reporting week to 8,180MW. However, they remained below the 9,587MW reported for the comparable period a year earlier. Eskom's diesel spending from 1 April to 1 October 2026 was reported at R1.16 billion, compared to R5.95 billion a year earlier, a reduction of R4.79 billion.
Eskom's efforts to manage its load reduction programme and improve its generation performance are ongoing. The utility's progress in removing feeders from load reduction and its commitment to eliminating the remaining restrictions by March 2027 will be closely monitored.
Key points
- 202,590 customers remain on load reduction
- Eskom aims to eliminate load reduction by March 2027
- 504 consecutive days without loadshedding reported
