Can government implement electricity crisis plan?

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s comprehensive energy plan, unveiled on Monday night, has been welcomed by observers weary of enforced power outages. But there is a sense of having heard it all before, and a concern whether it can be swiftly implemented.

Business Unity SA's CEO Cas Coovadia said industry was ready to assist the government with its “excellent” immediate and long-term plans for stabilising and securing the country’s energy supply.

“The country needs to bring on as much generation capacity as possible, in as short a time as possible, to close the 6GW energy gap, and this plan is a concrete step towards achieving this.

“What is still required is a clear execution plan, set against hard deadlines and accountability for delivery.”

Coovadia advised realism however, saying: “Patience and endurance will be needed; getting rid of load-shedding will take time.”

Busa official Martin Kingston said rapid investment in the transmission grid is critical to ensuring the success of the interventions announced by Ramaphosa.

Ramaphosa's plan includes lifting red tape blockages, pricing structures to incentivise investment in commercial and household rooftop generation and Eskom procuring existing, surplus power from independent power producers.

The opposition DA, announcing it would launch an implementation tracker to monitor the rollout of the energy plan, said the government should step out of the way and allow those who could fix the problem to do so.

“Many of the obstacles to increased generation are self-imposed by government,” said MPs Kevin Mileham and Ghaleb Cachalia.

“Whether it’s by standing in the way of municipalities who want to procure or generate their own electricity, whether it’s through onerous regulations on small-scale generation, or any of the other counterproductive regulations around preferential procurement or local content requirement, this national government has consistently been the biggest part of the problem.”

The party questioned the formation of a National Energy Crisis Committee (Necom, composed of relevant cabinet ministers) that Ramaphosa announced, saying it would ask for a parliamentary ad hoc committee to oversee Necom.

“It’s not clear what powers this body will decide to apportion itself, as such, it is important that parliament steps in from the onset to keep it accountable.”

The One South Africa Movement shared some cynicism.

“The central problem that we have in listening to President Ramaphosa present any plan is that this is not the first time the president has presented a plan to the public. There is  always the invariable failure to launch ... We were promised that our energy problems would be a thing of the past in 2017 — a full five years ago,” said its national spokesperson Mudzuli Rakhivhane.

To tackle the energy problems, OSA said “first, we need qualified people sitting on the board of Eskom. Currently, even the CEO has pointed out that not having an engineer and not having an industrialist on the Eskom board has affected the quality of decision-making and oversight.

“The president is correct to say that we need to have independent power producers brought onto the grid, however it's naive to believe that the ANC will be able to remove itself from the process and allow for the regulatory environment which supports this.”

And, said Rakhivhane, “we need to provide rebates and low-interest loans so that homes, clinics, hospitals, and schools can stay powered.”

Prof Raymond Parsons of the North-West University Business School said load-shedding and the lack of power security has inflicted severe economic damage on SA.

“It remains essential that the sense of urgency conveyed in President Ramaphosa’s announcement be translated into effective collaboration at all levels to achieve the necessary outcomes.

“It would have been helpful if more specific timelines for certain projects and outcomes had been set out in the latest plan.”

The economist said a stabilised and capacitated Eskom remains a key player in the domestic energy market. “But to close the ‘electricity gap’ on a sustainable basis, it requires the economy to lessen its dependence on the Eskom monopoly. The present plans still seem to fall short of the previous commitment that 30% of the electricity grid should eventually be in the private sector,” Parsons said.

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