Eskom has reassured that South Africa’s power supplies are more secure, as the state-owned power utility has amassed coal stockpiles at an average of 38.7 days.

Chief executive Jacob Maroga said that none of its power stations had a stockpile below 20 days. At the height of the power crisis last year, stockpiles reached a low of ten days.

Maroga noted that building the stockpiles came at a cost, but said it was deemed necessary to prevent a similar disruption to that experienced last year, adding that there had been no load shedding since April last year.