Eskom ramps up maintenance schedule ahead of winter
Eskom is due to publish its Winter Outlook on 17 April 2026. This will detail what it expects in terms of supply and demand.
Eskom ramped up its maintenance schedule ahead of winter over the Easter week. For the week ending 5 April, planned maintenance jumped to a 2026-high of 16.39% from 12.02% in the previous week.
Eskom is due to publish its Winter Outlook on 17 April 2026. This will detail what it expects in terms of supply and demand. It will also indicate whether there will be a return to load shedding.
Eskom achieved 333 consecutive days without an interruption in electricity supply. The last time there was load shedding was on 15 May 2025.
Diesel worries
Economists worry that Eskom will not have enough diesel to power its Open Cycle Gas Turbines (OCGT) given the current interruption to imports due to the Middle East war.
Eskom said that or the current financial year to date (1 to 9 April 2026), diesel expenditure was only R49.81 million. This is significantly lower than the R1.34 billion incurred in the same period last year.
Consequently, Eskom highlighted that the continued reduction demonstrates both the cost savings and the operational improvements achieved through Eskom’s ongoing turnaround efforts. Overall, this positive trend highlights the growing stability and efficiency of the power system.
Ramping up its maintenance schedule means that the coal-fired power stations will be more reliable over the winter period.
The use of diesel in the past week was to meet the reserve requirements, as specified in the South African grid code. OCGTs are used as peaking power suppliers. Peak demand is from 6am to 9am and then from 5pm to 9pm.
Winter 2025
In August 2025, Eskom said the power system continues to operate reliably. This enabled Eskom to meet winter electricity demand effectively. When system constraints do arise, they are managed through the targeted use of peaking power during morning and evening peak periods. In addition to OCGT, Eskom can also use pumped storage to meet peak demand.
Pumped storage acts as a giant water battery. When demand is low between midnight and 5am, electricity is used to pump water to an upper dam. When demand is high, the water is then allowed to run downhill to turbines, which generate electricity.
In 2023 when load shedding was at its peak, Eskom tried to schedule load shedding over the lower demand weekends. This enabled it then to replenish water in the upper dams ahead of the working week. Pumped storage and OCGTs were then used far more frequently, rather than just over peak demand periods.
Eskom spent R5.887 billion on diesel for OCGT plants, generating 995.48 Gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity, between 1 April and 14 August 2025. This output was higher than the 523.83GWh generated during winter 2024. The year-to-date load factor for OCGTs was 8.93%. Surprisingly, this was higher than the 4.70% in winter 2024. This higher usage allowed it to make sure the lights stayed on. The higher Eskom maintenance schedule will ensure that this happens again this winter.
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