Minister of Energy and Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has warned that although Eskom has delivered exceptional performance to keep load shedding at bay, the country is "not out of the woods yet".

The country has not experienced load shedding for at least 130 days - a feat last achieved some four years ago.

"[Eskom CEO Dan] Marokane and the Eskom team have done exceptionally well. So over the past week [the week of July 22]...Eskom has averaged 70% of EAF [Energy Availability Factor]. When I say EAF, I'm talking about...the rate at which these units are failing and also the degree to which they approximate their design capacity.

"The same period last year...we were going through a period of load shedding and I had said to the country 'short term pain for long term gain'. The same period last year, we were sitting at about 55% EAF. This is phenomenal. I want to emphasise, we are not out of the woods yet but the team is doing exceptionally well," he said at a recent media briefing.

He highlighted another milestone reached by the power utility in July.

"The 23rd of July was a day to celebrate because for the first time since 2018, we had availability of 35 000MW plus.

"The last time we had seen this was the 16th of July 2018. This is phenomenal, it is a confirmation that the strategy adopted by the board is working and we are going to stay at it and ensure that we are able to deliver the kind of performance that is required," he said.

The Minister singled out improved performance at some six power stations, which he said, had reached at least 70% EAF.

"Kusile and Medupi [power stations] are expected to be in that category because they are some of our newest power stations. But I think what is encouraging us is that, consistently, Matla and Matimba [power stations] are there in that category.

"There's an intra-station competition which is very healthy for the purposes of driving this EAF," he said.