Cape Town - The City of Cape Town has “cautiously” welcomed the move to allow municipalities to buy energy from independent producers.
In his State Of the Nation Address, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced plans to secure energy supply, giving municipalities the go-ahead to buy energy from sources other than Eskom.
However, the City said it needed urgent clarity from the national government on the legal and regulatory aspects of how the plan would unfold.
The City took the national government to court, seeking permission to buy energy from independent power producers.
EFF leader Julius Malema has blasted the plan, saying it will open the “floodgates” for corruption. Speaking at the Press Club of SA in the city, he said contracts to buy energy would only be landed by companies that were connected to the political elite.
Ramaphosa’s energy plan seeks to diversify energy sources as the ailing power utility has faced numerous challenges and subjected the economy to load-shedding.
The DA has called on Ramaphosa to “immediately” drop the government’s opposition to the City’s court case.
“If the president is serious, the national government will stop fighting the City in court and start issuing these notices immediately,” said the DA.
“We are working with the CSIR about the production of such an IRP (integrated resource plan). We are also working with the Western Cape government and GreenCape to look at several game-changers.”
The City was also in discussions with the National Treasury on, among others, how to set up a future City Independent Power Purchase office.
“We are preparing for our court case to get legal clarity so that we can all move forward,” it added.
The court case is set down for May.