Eskom’s Energy Availability Factor (EAF), the percentage of time its plants are available to generate electricity, tells a sobering story. From a healthy 87.5% in 2006/07, availability dropped steadily over the following decade and a half, bottoming out at a concerning 54.56% in 2023/24, a period marked by the 329 days of loadshedding in South Africa and ageing infrastructure under severe strain.

But the tide appears to be turning. In 2024/25, Eskom’s EAF recovered to 60.60%, underpinned by 310 consecutive loadshedding-free days and a meaningful reduction in unplanned outages.

By 2025/26, the improvement had accelerated. Eskom reported an EAF of 65.07% for 2025/26, and said the generation fleet achieved or exceeded the 70% EAF milestone on 83 occasions.

The utility has set targets of 70% EAF by 2027/28, a critical goal for long-term grid reliability. The last time Eskom had an annual average EAF of 70% or above was 2017/18.