SA CABINET NODS BILL TO OPEN UP ELECTRICITY MARKET
JOHANNESBURG - South Africa’s cabinet approved a bill on electricity regulation designed to clear the path for private generation projects and power trading.
Eskom has provided more than 90 percent of electricity used by the most industrialised nation on the continent for a century.
The Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill outlines an entity to buy power as a step toward establishing a competitive market.
The Draft Electricity Amendment Bill has been approved for submission to parliament and will be prioritised, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni told reporters in Pretoria, the capital.
Eskom has become an unprofitable utility, despite its monopoly, and is moving ahead with a plan to separate the business into generation, transmission and distribution units.
The bill will strengthen the role of the National Energy Regulator of South Africa and allow measures to create a transmission system operator that includes the "provision of an electricity trading platform on a multi-market basis, and provide access to the transmission network on a non-discriminatory basis," Ntshavheni said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says that the unbundling of Eskom and the establishment of an independent national transmission company remain top priorities for the government.
The roadmap for Eskom published by Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan in 2019 proposes the splitting up of Eskom into three units: generation, transmission and distribution. The restructuring is an essential part of creating a competitive electricity market in SA, where multiple producers sell power to a single state-owned grid company.
However, Gordhan has taken inordinately long to establish the board of the transmission company, which is one of the necessary next steps to moving on.
Said Ramokgopa:
I never said unbundling was not a priority. If you look at the energy action plan, it has five pillars and the last one deals with the reforms that are necessary. All I am saying is that it does not make a difference whether Eskom is unbundled or not when it comes to load shedding. It doesn’t resolve the generation problem. I'm placing additional attention on resolving the generation side and the rest of the issues, they are long-range reforms that are necessary to address energy security. They are very important. - NEWS24.