Last week, the Portfolio Committee on Energy received a briefing from ESKOM, the National Energy Regulator of SA (NERSA) and the SA Local Government Association (SALGA) on the Multi-Year Price Determination three (MYPD3).
Chairperson of the Committee, Mr Sisa Njikelana, says he noted the positive attempt by Eskom to respond to the 8% determination by NERSA. During the meeting, Eskom in its presentation called for coal to be declared a strategic resource and that more attention should be given to the pricing of coal. The power utility committed to the 80:10:10 strategy - where 80% is committed energy supply, 10% planned closures for maintenance work during winter period and 10% for unplanned closures. Eskom representatives also placed an emphasis on business optimisation and the R30 billion cost reduction.
The Committee noted the establishment of the inter-governmental task team which will address the constraints that have arisen due to MYPD 3. Above all, the Committee welcomes the measures that have been put in place to engage with NERSA on MYPD3 determination to look into the issues that are outstanding.
Mr Njikelana says the Committee finds the integrated delivery programme commendable. There are various specific issues which come out of the integrated delivery programmes. “The regulator indicated that they are still handling the issues that had been sent through to them by Eskom,” said Mr Njikelana. In this regard, it is important that the inter-governmental working group assists in resolving the challenges that exist between the institutions, he adds.
The Committee says, in terms of the current power system, it has taken note with interest of the shift of the demand supply management from Eskom to government departments. “We also take cognisance of Eskom’s plans to ensure that we don’t have any or have minimal outages and almost no load shedding this winter,” says Mr Njikelana. He adds: “We concede as the Committee that Eskom cannot do it alone. We are making a call to the public to work with government and municipalities in particular to save much electricity as much as possible this winter”.
The Committee also takes note of Eskom’s build programme. “We are viewing the build programme with mixed feelings. While we commend the efforts that have been made by the power utility, we are extremely concerned about the delays. I can only hope that the delays that are current do not deteriorate,” he said. The Committee was very pleased with job creation aspect of the programme. The Committee has particular interest in the attempts to sustain some of the jobs beyond the construction phase particularly the role that various spheres of government.
With regard to the SALGA’s presentation, the Committee expressed concern about the challenges that were raised. The Committee will however monitor the situation. The Committee looks forward to NERSA’s briefing after the entity has finalised the current process regarding municipal tariff determination.
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Yoliswa Landu, Parliamentary Communication Services
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