Grid constraint top issue

TERRITORIAL: NEW ACT OPENS FRONTIERS, BUT WILL ESKOM COOPERATE?

- Antoinette Slabbert

Solutions for the "disastrous" state of electricity supply at municipal level, as the Association of South African Chambers (Asac) puts it, and the grid constraints that are at the heart of the failure of government's procurement of renewable energy from a wind perspective, must be top of this year's agenda.

These issues are still outstanding after much progress in the reform of the local electricity supply industry last year and the implementation of the Electricity Regulation Amendment (ERA) Act on 1 January, save for two definitions relating to the role of municipalities.

While the ERA Act provides the framework for a competitive market and opens new frontiers in the reform process, Chris Yelland, managing director of EE Business Intelligence, has warned of increasing resistance from Eskom, which may lead to delays as functionaries try to frustrate the process.

Minister of Electricity and Energy Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, in his last media briefing last year, promised to announce interventions regarding municipal debt to Eskom - which at the end of November stood at R95 billion.

Their debt to Eskom is, however, not even close to being the only headache that municipalities must cope with on the electricity front.

Eskom tariff decision