https://www.engineeringnews.co.za
Energy|Power|Infrastructure
Energy|Power|Infrastructure
energy|power|infrastructure

DA mayors to ask minister permission to bypass Eskom

 DA mayors to ask minister permission to bypass Eskom

Photo by Bloomberg

26th March 2019

By: African News Agency

  

Font size: - +

Democratic Alliance (DA) mayors will petition Energy Minister Jeff Radebe under Section 34 of the Electricity Regulation Act for permission to procure electricity directly from independent power producers (IPPs), DA leader Mmusi Maimane said on Tuesday.

Maimane said it would allow councils run by his party to bypass Eskom and ensure stable electricity supply while the national utility suffers capacity constraints, which led to Stage 4 load-shedding in the last fortnight.

"Section 34 of the act empowers the minister of energy to allow municipalities to enter into a tender procedure which is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost-effective with the private sector to provide for new generation capacity," Maimane said. 

"This direct licencing arrangement with private sector energy providers must be approved in consultation with, and facilitated by, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa."

He said the fact that Eskom has halted load-shedding did not mean the utility's woes were at an end. 

"I want to urge South Africans to not be fooled by this temporary, short-term 'breather' from rolling power cuts experienced this week. This is by no means a sign that all is well, and that the structural problems have been solved. 

"The ANC [African National Congress] has shown it will stop at nothing to keep the lights on before an election, even if this means the collapse of Eskom - both in terms of its finances and infrastructure. Currently, the ANC national government has chosen to burn billions of rands of diesel in a desperate attempt to keep the lights on as elections are around the corner."

Edited by African News Agency

Comments

Showroom

Booyco Electronics
Booyco Electronics

Booyco Electronics, South African pioneer of Proximity Detection Systems, offers safety solutions for underground and surface mining, quarrying,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
John Deere (Pty) Ltd
John Deere (Pty) Ltd

In 1958 John Deere Construction made its first introduction to the industry with their model 64 bulldozer.

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.135 0.199s - 185pq - 4rq
Subscribe Now