SA has experienced no load shedding for more than six months and Eskom expects to pencil in a profit of more than R10bn by the end of March 2025. However. the power utility still faces problems on many fronts, including corruption, smothering debt and municipalities not paying for electricity.

Is Eskom's operational and financial situation finally turning around after the power utility consistently recorded billions of rands in losses, relied on taxpayer-funded bailouts for survival and broke its promises of ending blackouts for 16 years?

Eskom's management -- led by new CEO Dan Marokane -- believes the power utility is showing signs of recovery and is beginning to overcome its "painful" past of underperformance.

However, Eskom numbers still point to a power utility that is in deep financial trouble -- and its full turnaround will be a long haul.

On Thursday, Eskom released its financial results -- nine months late. The power utility reported a loss of R55-billion for the year ending 31 March 2024.

The R55-billion financial loss is the largest Eskom has registered in its 101-year operational history. The mega loss was because of complex accounting standards and the treatment of tax in Eskom's financial books relating to the reform initiative of breaking up the power utility into three parts (generation, transmission and distribution) -- starting with its transmission business being hived off in July 2024.

The transmission business has been profitable and, in the...