DA’s plan to dismantle Eskom’s monopoly

THE DA plans to soon introduce a private member’s bill in Parliament that is aimed at dismantling Eskom’s monopoly.

Briefing the media in Parliament yesterday, DA leader Mmusi Maimane said the Independent System and Market Operator (Ismo) Bill was key to the party’s plan to revive the economy, fast-track growth and open up access to new jobs.

“It goes without saying that the only way to keep electricity down for consumers is to introduce competition in the electricity market,” Maimane said. He added that over the past decade, Eskom’s electricity prices had increased by about 356%, while inflation went up by 74%.

“We can’t sit with this dogma where we have a monopoly in energy as put forward by Eskom, and say we must continue.”

Maimane said that Eskom knew that if they didn’t do things right, they had a rich uncle who would bail them out.

“We are of the view that Eskom must be split into two companies. The first is a company to focus on power production, and the second is a distribution business that would allow cities to purchase directly from an independent power producer,” he said.

He added that financially viable metros should be allowed to choose where to purchase electricity, as opposed to buying only from Eskom.

Natasha Mazzone, the DA’s spokesperson on energy, said the government had, in the 1998 Energy White Paper, agreed that “Eskom will be restructured into separate generation and transmission companies. It is not a completely new concept,” Mazzone said, adding that it had been featured in State of the Nation addresses only to disappear.

“We know through state capture that there was good reason the Eskom monopoly had to stay, pieces of Eskom be sold to the highest bidder and how close the country was held to ransom by one electricity supplier.”

She said that viable solutions had to be found. “We would encourage the ANC to have a look at this and seriously consider the recommendation this particular bill will make,” Mazzone said.

Maimane said the DA’s proposal differed to previous ones by the ANC in that it made provision for municipalities to buy electricity directly from an independent power producer, and for the new company to have a mixed board with the private sector playing a role.

Mazzone said the bill would be submitted to Parliament shortly.