Johannesburg: More than 700,000 households have now been removed from Eskom's load reduction. This development comes as the power utility continues its program to eliminate load reduction by 2027.

According to South African Government News Agency, about 714,513 customers across South Africa are no longer impacted, representing more than 42% of targeted households, with full elimination achieved in the Northern and Western Cape. The program targets 971 feeders and will benefit approximately 1.69 million customers across all provinces, out of Eskom's total customer base of 7.2 million. Key interventions include the rollout of smart meters, the integration of Distributed Energy Resources, and the expansion of Free Basic Electricity (FBE) support. These measures will be accompanied by targeted customer education initiatives.

Since the inception of the program, some 1.6 million smart meters have been deployed to households across the country. Of these, 295,462 units have been deployed on load reduction feeders, representing about 18% allocation to high priority areas. This targeted deployment is critical to easing grid pressure while empowering customers with real-time consumption data and greater control over their energy usage. The rollout is deliberately focused on high-loss areas affected by illegal connections, meter bypassing, overloaded infrastructure, and widespread electricity theft.

However, the rollout of smart meters has encountered challenges. Eskom has undertaken extensive community and stakeholder engagement through ward councillors, public meetings, radio platforms, and social media to support the implementation of the program. Despite these efforts, installation teams continue to face persistent resistance, including intimidation, violent incidents, and repeated work stoppages. These disruptions have led to deployment delays, the redeployment of teams, and heightened safety risks for Eskom employees and contractors. As a result, over 122,000 planned meter conversions have been delayed to date, undermining the stability and predictability of the rollout program.

Meanwhile, the power utility has recorded more than 385 days without implementing load shedding. System performance remains on an upward trajectory, with the financial year-to-date Energy Availability Factor improving to 63.05%, up from 57.67% over the same period last year, an increase of 5.38%. This marks sustained progress under Eskom's turnaround strategy and a 9.89% (4.99GW) improvement compared to the corresponding period three years ago, supported by a continued reduction in unplanned outages and more consistent plant performance. To further ensure a stable electricity supply, Eskom will bring 3,903MW of generation capacity online ahead of the evening peak tonight.