The National Transmission Company South Africa (NTCSA) says it expects to finalise all outstanding curtailment claims by independent power producers (IPPs) by the end of August.

It also announced that the current claims backlog stood at R1.5-billion; a figure that is 25% lower than the R2-billion reported on June 14, inclusive of new claims received since that date.

“We are on track to completely address the current volume of outstanding claims and this will become a thing of the past by the end of August 2026, as the NTCSA is executing plans to improve the overall efficiency of claim settlements as part of our ongoing support and implementation of market reforms,” CEO Monde Bala said in a statement.

Last week, Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) highlighted the backlog in curtailment compensation payments as an area of concern, noting that some producers were facing revenue shortfalls of about 9%.

The backlog was also listed in the latest BLSA Reform Tracker as one of the issues slowing the momentum of electricity reforms more generally. This, alongside unbundling delays at Eskom, the slow pace of grid expansion, delays in finalising trading rules, restrictions on virtual wheeling, and the delayed launch of the wholesale market.

The NTCSA said that a “streamlined” curtailment claims process was being implemented in light of what it described as the creation of temporary bottlenecks that had arisen following a sharp rise in the volume and complexity of curtailment-related claims during April and May.

Eskom is said to have a surplus of some 5 GW currently, following the stabilisation of its coal plants, and the NTCSA is curtailing production from renewables generators that have been procured through public auctions.

The IPP generators instructed to curtail their output are entitled to compensation under the terms of their power purchase agreements (PPAs) with NTCSA.

Curtailment is a normal part of managing an electricity system, and is implemented to ensure system stability when there are network constraints, or when total electricity supply exceeds demand.

NTCSA currently administers PPAs covering 117 renewables facilities with a combined capacity of 10 083 MW, and processes payments of about R45-billion to IPPs yearly.

“Our streamlined settlement process is also expected to significantly improve turnaround times for the assessment and settlement of valid claims, thereby supporting the liquidity of affected IPPs, while maintaining the secure operation of the national power system,” Bala said.

He indicated that additional resources had been deployed to accelerate the verification and settlement of claims.