International experience suggests South Africa can benefit by focusing on a simple restructuring of its power utility, allowing well-run state-owned entities to flourish.
South Africa’s energy sector is being guided by an outdated Integrated Resource Plan.
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South Africa’s biggest successes in the last year in relation to energy have been in regulatory matters.
It’s now cheaper for Eskom to buy renewable energy from independent power producers than to run its coal power stations.
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South Africa’s renewable energy procurement programme has the potential to restore energy security and eventually reduce power prices.
Even if additional energy production capacity was added to the national grid through renewables, questions remain about whether access will be equitable and affordable.
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Developments in the energy sector shouldn’t be reduced to technological sophistication. They should be guided by how they improve the livelihoods of the intended beneficiaries.
When policymakers reduce electricity scarcity to a few factors like theft and vandalism, to be solved with technology and stiff penalties, they miss other factors that contribute to electricity theft.
PG&E is the largest U.S. utility.
AP Photo/Jeff Chiu
Customers, cities and investors are all eager for a piece of PG&E, but it isn’t the only US utility that may have new owners soon.
South Africa’s energy regulator failed to assure a stable pricing path for electricity and is partly to blame for energy provider Eskom’s troubles.
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Electric utilities have a right to make money on their government-granted monopolies, but customers also have a right to know what cyber-protections they would get if they paid more.
There’s no painless way for South Africans to deal with the power utility crisis.
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One way to cut your household bills could be to deal with just one company for all your utility needs. With today’s technology, it’s an idea that’s not so far fetched as it sounds.
Eskom CEO Brian Molefe addressing the media.
Alon Skuy/The Times
A closer look at the supposed successes of Brian Molefe at South Africa’s power utility, Eskom, shows that they are not what they have been made out to be. They are paper thin.