(Bloomberg) — South Africa has gone 150 consecutive days without any planned power outages, Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. said Saturday.
This milestone marks a dramatic turnaround from over a year ago when South Africa was plagued by persistent and record loadshedding that disrupted daily life, inflated food prices, and eroded investor confidence.
“The recovery plan has not only made Eskom’s power stations more reliable but has also demonstrated enhanced efficiency,” the state-owned power utility said.
Th turnaround began with the appointment of Kgosientsho Ramokgopa as the country’s first-ever Electricity Minister in March 2023, a role created in response to the escalating energy crisis.
Alongside this, the government injected $14 billion into Eskom to stabilize the utility as well as appointing Dan Marokane as its permanent chief executive officer in December.
The rand has responded well to the development after ending 2023 as one of the few emerging market currencies with losses versus the dollar.
Its fortunes have been boosted by the improvement in electricity supply along with a coalition government that’s considered market-friendly after the May election.
The currency has gained 3.7% in the year-to-date and trades at about 17.7037 per US dollar.
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