- The Draft Electricity Amendment Bill has been approved for submission to parliament and will be prioritised, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni told reporters yesterday in Tshwane.
- The Bill, if adopted, will mark further decentralisation of the South Africa’s energy sector by allowing private power generation companies access to the grid plus allow peer to peer power trading between private power generators.
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”, said Ntshavheni.
South Africa’s state owned energy utility has fallen into dissaray and financial ruin because of poor planning, gross mismangement, corruption, looting, theft and sabotage. The Treasury recently announced a R254 billion bailout of the Eskom. Blackouts are a daily occurance in South Africa. Read more
In other parliament news, former CEO of Eskom, André de Ruyter, has agreed to submit a written submission plus appear before the South African Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA). SCOPA chair, Mkhuleko Hlengwa, said that after inviting De Ruyter on March 17, the committee has received a response from his lawyers acceding to the committee’s request.
In a broad-sweeping interview with journalist Annika Larsen on eTV on national TV last month, De Ruyter spilled the beans on ANC corruption, political interference and connections between senior ministers and mafia style syndicates looting Eskom. In the interview, De Ruyter explained that the ANC was more interested in short-term political gains than long-term sustainability for the country. “They want what will win them the next election – not what will keep the country going for the next two decades,” said De Ruyter. De Ruyter also said that fixing and turning Eskom around is not feasible. Read more
Andre De Ruyter resigned as Eskom GCE in early December 2022 giving four months notice, after the country’s energy minister accused Eskom (him) of agitating to overthrow the state. Read more
De Ruyter also suffered an attempt on his life after drinking coffee laced with cyanide at his Eskom office. Read more
Scopa resolved to establish a parliamentary inquiry to probe the allegations made by the former Eskom CEO last month. A date has not been set for de Ruyter’s written submission and appearance before parliament but it is sure to produce fireworks.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
