Cape Town - Eskom’s decision not to sign on any more Independent Power Producers, after the current round of contracts was finalised, would lead to electricity shortages and blackouts, the Democratic Alliance said on Thursday.
“The decision by the Board of Eskom to discontinue the signing-on of any power purchasing agreements with Independent Power Producers (IPP) will suffocate the national power grid and lead to more blackouts in the future as 2 145 megawatt will be excluded,” DA MP Gordon Mackay said.
“According to the Integrated Resource Plan (2010), 17 800 MW of the 2030 energy target is expected to be from renewable energy sources, which may be negated with this decision.”
It was reported on Thursday that Eskom board chairman Ben Ngubane had written to Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Petterson to inform her that the board would not sign further power purchase agreements without engagement.
Ngubane told Business Day the board had concerns about the independent power producers’ programme, and there was a need for the government to look at all the implications for Eskom and its future.
Mackay said he would urge Joemat-Petterson to reverse the decision and demand that the Eskom board give the proper reasons behind it because suggestions that buying more power from independent producers would threaten the utility’s balance sheet did not hold water.
“This simply isn’t true,” Mackay said, before noting that Eskom CEO Brian Molefe did not have the authority to dictate energy policy, only the energy minister had.
Mackay said independently produced energy had not only stabilised supply but brought down the cost of power.
“Large scale and small scale businesses dependent on stable electricity supply such as the manufacturing and mining industries will have no choice but to shed jobs as their costs rise and output decreases due to the blocking of IPP’s by Eskom.
“Not only have IPP’s been the main source for national electricity stability but they have resulted in the decrease in the cost of electricity from R2.37kW/h in 2013 to R0.77kW/h in 2016, which is a vast decrease of 67 percent in two years.”
African News Agency