Eskom has become increasingly frank about the volatility of its plant performance. The utility is also warning that the high levels of unplanned outages, which typically leave about 5 000 MW inoperable at any point, will continue unless space is created for it to conduct much-needed maintenance. However, Eskom no longer has a buy-back cushion to lean on as it enters the high demand winter period, during which it plans to continue with a scaled-back maintenance schedule.