Question No. 522
Mr P van Dalen (Democratic Alliance) to ask the Minister of Public Enterprises:
(1)(a) How much electricity is exported by Eskom, (b) where is the electricity exported to, (c) at what tariff and (d) what percentage of the total available electricity is exported;
(2) Whether there are any contracts in place for each of the exports; if not, why not; if so, (a) what are the details of these contracts and (b) what is the (i) commencement and (ii) end dates of each contract;
(3) Whether the export of electricity is prioritised over domestic supply; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
1. (a) South Africa exports approximately 1 200 Gigawatt Hour (GWh) of power per month.
(b) Electricity is exported to utilities and end-user industrial mining customers. South Africa has firm contracts to export power to utilities in Botswana (BPC), Namibia (NamPower), Lesotho (LEC) and Swaziland (SEC).
Occasionally South Africa exports power to Zimbabwe (ZESA) and Zambia (ZESCO) based on the availability of power in South Africa. This forms part of the South African power pool agreement and their non-firm agreements with Eskom.
Electricity is also exported to end-use industrial and mining customers namely Motraco, aluminium smelter in Mozambique; Skorpion Zinc, zinc mine in Namibia and Namdeb, diamond mine in Namibia.
In addition, Eskom transports power to southern Mozambique from the Cahora Bassa scheme. In the event of any failure on the Cahora Bassa scheme, Eskom then supplies the Mozambican utility, EDM, directly.
(c) All agreements are covered by confidentiality provisions therefore we are unable to publicly disclosure these tariff levels.
(d) Exports, which are based as a percentage of total electricity available for distribution in South Africa, were approximately 5.95 percent for 2009.
Considering that South Africa also imports electricity from neighbouring countries, the net exports (exports less imports) for 2009 is approximately 0.73 percent of the total electricity available for distribution in South Africa.
2. All exports are governed by contractual agreements.
| Types of contracts (a) | Commencement (b) (i) | End dates of contracts (b) (ii) | |
| Botswana | Firm supply contract | January 2007 | 2012 |
| Lesotho | Non-firm contract | July 2006 | June 2017 |
| Namibia | Non-firm contract | October 2006 | Indefinite |
| Swaziland | Firm supply contract | December 2001 | December 2014 |
| Motraco | Firm supply contract | December 1997 | December 2025 |
| Skorpion | Firm supply contract | August 2000 | January 2018 |
| Namdep | Firm supply contract | October 1986 | Indefinite |
3. Exports are not prioritised over domestic supplies; all agreements are treated equitably, in line with their contractual provisions.
Source: Department of Public Enterprises
