(Dean Hutton/Bloomberg via Getty Image
And just like that, we’re back! The past 10 months with no load-shedding has been great, but every day without rolling blackouts has felt like one step closer to the inevitable return of power cuts.
Just like a holiday crossing its halfway mark, the looming return of Eskom’s troubles has kept us from fully enjoying our reprieve from the less romantic combination of candle-lit evenings and cold showers. Are we paranoid?
Perhaps — but our anxiety is justified: since the turn of the year, load-shedding has reared its ugly head to remind us all that our national grid remains ailing and fragile, compelling us all to remain cautious and proactive as both consumers and citizens when it comes to access to electricity.
The glut of domestic and industrial solar installations in the 2021-23 period encapsulates private efforts’ power in lending a helping hand: the reduction in demand for Eskom’s brand of power went a long way in ameliorating the strain placed on a grid already teetering upon its own breaking point.
This gave the government and new Eskom leadership some much-needed slack with which to reel in the cascading and potentially catastrophic failures of such a crucial system.
It is unfortunate, then, that the response by Eskom has lacked any semblance of awareness; instead of co-opting, championing and encouraging more private efforts at more efficient and responsible use, they have opted for higher tariffs.
Although higher prices affect everyone — the hike will undoubtedly increase inflation and hit the poorest the hardest — those with private generation capacity have been placed under the microscope, with special elevated tariffs proposed for these entities during certain peak hours of demand. Although this may seem more of the same (and it is), it also demonstrates policy rigidity and a reluctance to tap into a willing base of private producers.
Clean energy is not a crutch. It is not a coping mechanism. It is not an agenda, nor a political statement. Clean, renewable sources of energy — solar, wind, tidal, geothermal and biomass, among others — are the realistic and sensible choice from all perspectives, at all levels, and across all forecasts.
Historically, the argument against clean energies has been that oil, coal and other traditional sources of power generation are able to scale in a much more economically sensible manner than their “clean” counterparts, particularly when you need to provide millions of people with easily accessible, affordable power.
But, as the last 17 to 18 years of load-shedding has proven, arguments over pricing are irrelevant when output is inconsistent, underwhelming and prone to indefensible price hikes.
As the years and blackouts rolled on, the strategy never wavered. Oil, coal, diesel, and other fuels remained the golden standard, despite little improvement.
If the government’s electrical triage team needed a clear sign that it’s time to take a different path, private solar installation — and all that it unlocks — is it. In 2024, we witnessed the unbundling of Eskom with the passing of the Electricity Regulation Amendment Act. This legislation is paving the way for the establishment of a separate state-owned Transmission System Operator, tasked with overseeing the national grid.
Simultaneously, the Act introduces a Market Code, aimed at fostering a more competitive electricity market with clear and enforceable rules. The direction is becoming increasingly apparent: a move towards a more diverse energy mix, incorporating renewables sourced from independent power producers and private generators. This shift is creating a clear path toward stabilising electricity supply and driving down costs for consumers.
So why does Eskom continue to stem the rising tide? Why are renewables and private generation treated as interlopers to a broken system and not an evolution thereof?
The attitude of using targeted elevated tariffs should be replaced by greater incentives underpinned by a drive to innovate in a manner that delivers opportunities for users to invest directly in the system, and in private enterprises to hasten the adoption of local (clean) energy alternatives as well as smart technologies.
Wheeling (the sale of privately generated electricity to other users on the grid) is definitely not affected by load-shedding. Instead, it is a largely beneficial practice as it provides private consumers access to affordable renewable energy and price security. These benefits are key drivers in the liberalisation of South Africa’s energy market.
The growing adoption of solar was initially driven by load-shedding, not by government decree, and it is likely that South Africans will continue to opt for other options in the face of an imperfect system — but just imagine how much quicker our grid could recover if we didn’t have to work against one another.
Daniel Novitzkas is the chairperson of Specno and Gerjo Hoffman is the founder at Open.Access Energy.