South Africa's Eskom Chairman Nyati Reappointed for Three Years, New Term Begins November 1

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 25, South Africa's Department of Electricity and Energy announced that Mteto Nyati will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board of state-owned power utility Eskom, with his term extended by three years, effective from November 1, 2026. Nyati's current three-year term was originally due to expire at the end of October, and the South African Cabinet has approved his continued service. Eskom subsequently confirmed the term arrangement.

Eskom disclosed that as of September 25, the company had gone 497 consecutive days without implementing planned load shedding. During the period from September 18 to 24, the Energy Availability Factor (EAF) reached 70.44%, remaining above 70% for the second consecutive week; for the 2027 fiscal year to date, the EAF reached 68.06%, the highest level for the same period in six years. During the same period, diesel generation expenditure decreased by 4.78 billion rand year-on-year.

In the full 2026 fiscal year, the company implemented load shedding on only 4 days for a total of 26 hours, compared with 329 days of load shedding in the 2024 fiscal year. The EAF for the 2026 fiscal year was 65.16%, the unplanned outage loss factor dropped to 22.88%, and the average unplanned loss capacity was 10,647 MW.

On the financial front, Eskom's after-tax profit for the 2026 fiscal year ended March 31, 2026 was 30.3 billion rand, compared with a restated 14 billion rand the previous year, marking its second consecutive fiscal year of profitability. During the same period, operating revenue grew 4.1%, while full-year electricity sales fell 6.2% to 178 TWh; as of the end of the fiscal year, the company's debt securities and borrowings balance stood at 356 billion rand, further declining to approximately 320 billion rand by the end of June.

In announcing the reappointment decision, South Africa's Department of Electricity and Energy also set out shareholder requirements for the next phase, including planning new generation capacity, expanding the grid, improving customer relations, and adapting to new generators and electricity traders entering the market. Minister of Electricity and Energy Kgosientsho Ramokgopa stated that the government will no longer provide new financial bailouts to Eskom in the future, and will not support double-digit electricity tariff increases.

Eskom still faces the problem of electricity bill arrears owed by local governments. As of the end of the 2026 fiscal year, municipal and metropolitan government arrears on electricity bills had accumulated to 111.6 billion rand, a net increase of 17 billion rand for the year. The company has been advancing the handling of arrears through measures such as the National Treasury's debt relief arrangement and distribution agency agreements.