Business Unity South Africa (Busa) on Friday said it was concerned over a lack of consultation on the final draft of the updated Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), which was approved by Cabinet last week.
The IRP determines South Africa’s long-term electricity demand and details how the demand should be met in terms of generating capacity, type, timing and cost.
Busa explained that “meaningful and evidence-based” consultation on the IRP was necessary to ensure that the final IRP would result in the least cost and most sustainable supply of power based on the most up-to-date information.
The comments followed the call for public comment for the initial draft IRP released in November last year.
“Throughout the public consultation process following the publication, which included provision for written submissions and public presentations, the Department of Energy assured stakeholders that there would be a further opportunity for consultation on the final draft,” Busa CEO Tanya Cohen said.
“Since the initial public consultation process was concluded on March 31, business has made numerous attempts to ascertain from the department the timing and extent of the public consultation process on the final draft IRP, to no avail,” she concluded.