CAPE TOWN - Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has vowed that Eskom will eradicate load reductions across the country within the next 12 months.
While rolling blackouts are now technically behind us, Ramokgopa said the power utility is focused on eliminating load reductions, with notable successes in some provinces.
Speaking to eNCA ahead of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address, Ramokgopa said Eskom has made significant gains, noting that on average the utility now has an accessible generation capacity of over 4,500 megawatts, compared with a deficit of about 7,000 megawatts in 2023.
“We have made a net turnaround of over 10,000 megawatts and that is quite significant,” he said.
“The only reasoning why I’m not coming out in public to say we have resolved load shedding is because it will not be accurate as we still have challenges with load reduction, but in technical terms, load shedding is behind us."
He assured that load reduction will be a thing of the past within 12 months.
“By the end of this month, we would have eradicated it in the Northern Cape. And I'm confident that by March, we would have eradicated it in the North West as well,” the Minister said.
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Ramokgopa said load reduction has already been eliminated in the Western Cape, although it remains a challenge in provinces like KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, and Limpopo.
“It’s a bit more complex there because Eskom is not the sole actor, you work with municipalities. The only reason why it will take us 12 months is because of the relative resistance we get when we go into these communities, but we will get it right.”
On tariff increases, the Minister said the department will make a public pronouncement addressing the cost of electricity, which he said is eroding disposable income and making the economy less competitive.
“It is eroding disposable income of households and making the economy uncompetitive. We must deal with that. It is even a more complex than load shedding. It is a contested space, but the bottom line is we have to arrest the exponential tariff increases.”
NERSA has approved electricity increases of 12.7 percent for 2025/26, 8.76 percent for 2026/27, and 8.83 percent for 2027/28 -- a nearly 30 percent cumulative increase in three years.