The South African parliament has approved a bill on electricity regulation designed to clear the path for private generation projects and power trading.
BusinessTech Africa understands that the country’s power utility, Eskom has provided more than 90% of the electricity used by the most industrialized nation on the continent for over 100 years.
The Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill outlines a private entity to buy power as a step toward establishing a competitive market.
“The Draft Electricity Amendment Bill has been approved for submission to parliament and will be prioritised, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni told reporters in Pretoria, the capital, on Thursday,” reports News24.
“Eskom has become an unprofitable utility, despite its monopoly, and is moving ahead with a plan to separate the business into generation, transmission, and distribution units.”
The bill will also strengthen the role of the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) and allow measures to create a transmission system operator.
“This includes the provision of an electricity trading platform on a multi-market basis, and providing access to the transmission network on a non-discriminatory basis”, Ntshavheni said in a statement.
Meanwhile, BTA recently reported that Eskom has fulfilled a crucial milestone in the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station Unit 1 maintenance plan, although it is running weeks behind schedule.
The plant, which has a capacity of 920MW, is undergoing scheduled maintenance to enable the replacement of its steam generators.
The plant was shut down in December 2022 due to increased load shedding, and it was projected to stay down for six months.
