By the numbers: Eskom's performance under Cyril's presidency

From blackouts to breakthroughs, Eskom’s journey over the past decade has reshaped South Africa’s power landscape. When President Cyril Ramaphosa took office after Jacob Zuma, the utility was deep in debt, struggling with ageing infrastructure and worsening load-shedding. Years of worsening outages pushed households and businesses to the brink, while policy debates intensified. A major shift in 2021 and 2022 opened the door for private electricity generation, quietly changing the balance of supply and demand. Today, the effects of those decisions are still unfolding, raising questions about whether South Africa has finally turned a corner in its long electricity crisis journey..By Myles Illidge.The Eskom that President Cyril Ramaphosa inherited from former President Jacob Zuma looked very different from the entity it is today, and has managed to end load-shedding.While this did not come to fruition overnight, a major policy change made by Ramaphosa in 2021 and 2022 could arguably be credited with ending load-shedding.Ramaphosa has been president of South Africa for more than 6 years, succeeding President Jacob Zuma, who resigned on 14 February 2018.Zuma’s resignation followed Ramaphosa’s election as ANC President in December 2017. The National Assembly met on 15 February 2018, electing and swearing in Ramaphosa that same day.Eskom released its annual results for the 2017/18 financial year about a month later. The state-owned power utility recorded revenue of R177.4 billion in that year, alongside a loss after tax of R2.34 billion.At the time, Eskom’s gross debt and borrowings amounted to R388.7 billion, and the utility had a headcount of 48,628 employees. Its total electricity sales for the year amounted to 212,190GWh.Load-shedding re-emerged for the first time in three years in June 2016, driven by coal shortages and worker strikes.Between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2019, Eskom implemented load-shedding on 31 days, cutting approximately 469GWh of electricity demand from the grid.The rotational power cuts worsened in the years that followed. South Africa experienced its first stage 6 load-shedding in the 2019/20 financial year. That year, Eskom shed 1,291GWh from the grid.Demand shed in its 2021 financial year reached 1,034GWh and climbed to 1,605GWh in 2021/22. The worst was yet to come, however.Eskom implemented load-shedding on 280 days during its 2023 financial year, shedding approximately 13,376GWh of demand.Load-shedding was more frequent in Eskom’s 2024 financial year, but less severe. The power cuts were implemented on 329 days, but the demand shed was around 13,215GWh..The beginning of the end of load-shedding.Following years of appeals by energy experts and businesses, Ramaphosa made a pivotal move to lessen South Africa’s reliance on Eskom for electricity.Ramaphosa increased the capacity threshold before private plants required a generation licence from the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) from 1MW to 100MW in June 2021.In July 2022, he announced that the government would lift the threshold entirely. The decision took effect in January 2023.Ramaphosa said the government had decided to lift the threshold entirely due to the enthusiasm with which the private sector received the invitation to produce its own power.Fast forward to 2026, and Nersa has registered roughly 18,000MW of large-scale private power, the bulk of which comes from photovoltaic solar plants.As these projects have come online and households have increasingly adopted rooftop solar, which was also boosted by tax incentives, the demand for Eskom’s electricity has fallen substantially.From 212,190GWh in its 2018 financial year, Eskom reported that its electricity sales had declined to 189,723GWh by its 2025 full-year results.Eskom’s most recent financial performance also looked better than the last year of Zuma’s presidency. Until 2025, Eskom had not reported a full-year profit after tax since 2017.Despite substantial electricity price increases, it recorded losses from 2018 to 2024. In 2025, it reported a profit of R16.05 billion.However, that came with a caveat: Eskom received R64 billion in government funding during the financial year.The bailout helped Eskom reduce its gross debt securities and borrowings. The utility’s debt had surged from R338.7 billion in March 2018 to R412.2 billion by March 2024.By March 2025, the debt had reduced to R372.7 billion. All things considered, Eskom is not much better off financially.Despite nearly doubling its revenue due to above-inflation increases, it still needed government funding to reduce its debt.If Eskom had had to draw on its own revenue to service its debt, it would likely have incurred another loss.On an operational level, Eskom is performing worse than in 2018. Its energy availability factor in 2025 was about 61.2%, compared with 78% in 2018.The figure reached 65% in the year ending 31 March 2026, but is still well below what is considered a healthy level among global utilities.However, Ramaphosa’s decision to scrap licensing for large private generation facilities has ultimately helped reduce demand to the point where Eskom has been able to keep load-shedding suspended..Key Eskom financial and operational figures — FY 2018 vs FY 2025.*This article was originally published by MyBroadband and has been republished with permission..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox every morning on weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa's bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. 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By the numbers: Eskom's performance under Cyril's presidency

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