MZANSI’S solution to load shedding is private electricity companies.
This is according to Multi-Party Charter leaders who met at the Kelvin Power station in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni, on Wednesday, 28 February, to unveil a Charter Government’s plan to end the electricity crisis.
They said in a joint statement that they will create a competitive energy market that is centred on increased private power generation.
This will include unbundling Eskom into three sections: transmission, generation and distribution, and closing down the Ministry of Electricity.
“South Africa’s first-time voters in 2024 have never known life without load shedding. Our economy has lost hundreds of billions of rands, and countless small businesses have shut their doors because the ineptitude, corruption and mismanagement of Eskom by the national government has destroyed the country’s energy security,” the statement read.
The leaders said there was an urgent need for the electorate to remove a failed government in this year’s elections and hand over the reins to a leadership with the skills, political will and integrity to end rolling blackouts and increase sustainable energy development.
“The Multi-Party Charter for South Africa is that leadership,” said the Charter.
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The coalition consists of 11 parties, including the DA, IFP, ActionSA, FF Plus, ACDP, UCDP, UIM, EPP, SNP, Ekhethu People’s Party and ISANCO.
The Charter said they would end Eskom's monopoly and establish a competitive, open electricity market, putting the power utility's years of underperformance and endless bailouts behind us.
“The reforms announced by the Charter today will secure South Africa’s energy future while increasing clean, renewable energy utilisation.
“This will increase living standards and improve the well-being of all South Africans.”
The Charter’s specific plans include the following:
- Expediting the unbundling process of Eskom to produce a separate transmission company, which will be a stand-alone grid and market operator.
- Abolishing the Ministry of Electricity and housing its functions within existing ministries.
- Ensuring that appointments at Eskom and other energy sector leadership roles are based on merit, eliminating political interference in the board and management of Eskom, ending cadre deployment and eradicating corruption in the energy sector.
- Investing heavily in maintaining and upgrading grid infrastructure.
- Creating a conducive regulatory environment for the construction of micro-grids.
- Establishing a competitive electricity supply market where multiple electricity producers can compete on an open platform.
- Facilitating and encouraging the wheeling of power between distributed generators and customers through transmission and distribution grids by approving standard wheeling tariffs.
- Aggressively promoting demand-side management to reduce electricity demand.
- Incentivising the rapid roll-out of rooftop PV through feed-in-tariffs, tax rebates on installation, and the zero-rating of PV panels and components.
- Collaborating with domestic and international partners to achieve a rapid and just energy transition from coal to cleaner and more diversified sustainable energy sources.
The Charter said it was committed to retraining and reskilling individuals within the coal sector to ensure that the socio-economic impact of the energy transition is justly managed.
“Care will be taken to ensure that this transition doesn't result in job losses or place the nation’s energy security at risk.
"These commitments have been agreed to by all the signatory parties to the Multi-Party Charter, having consulted with a broad range of experts and capitalising on the governance experience within the Charter,” concluded the statement.
