JOHANNESBURG, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- South Africa has had no load-shedding, or rolling blackouts, for 272 days as of Dec. 23, the longest stretch of uninterrupted power supply in five years, Minister of Electricity and Energy Kgosientso Ramokgopa said Monday.

More than 16 billion rand (about 870 million U.S. dollars) has been saved as a result, the minister told a media briefing in Pretoria, the administrative capital of South Africa.

"This is the longest stretch of uninterrupted power supply in five years. The energy availability factor (EAF) is now at 62.5 percent, which is an improvement from 55.4 percent last year," Ramokgopa said. The EAF is a percentage that measures how much maximum energy a power plant can supply to the electrical grid.

"We want to improve the EAF to reach 70 percent in 2025 so that we can support the economic growth and bring confidence in the country's economy and investment. Eskom is now becoming more efficient," he said.

Ramokgopa attributed the improvement to better leadership at Eskom, the national power utility.

"South Africa's production and manufacturing relies on electricity provision, and we want our country to be competitive on the domestic and international market," he said.

Ramokgopa said there is a limitation in the grid capacity to allow more electricity from independent power producers.

He said an independent transmission pilot will be announced in February next year to allow the private sector to help address that challenge.

South Africa is expecting over 2,500 MW from independent power producers, and some of the units that will become operational in 2025 will add more power to the grid, Ramokgopa said, adding that they want to end load-shedding before the end of the current administration. ■