Eskom monopoly could end

Johannesburg - The National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa) has recommended new private power generation capacity and independent power producers to be managed independently of Eskom as a means of solving the country's power crisis.

Nersa, in a report released on Monday, also suggested co-generation partnerships.

It suggested that the government's National Electricity Emergency Programme, including the Power Conservation Programme, be coordinated and led by a centralised high-level government unit with authority to take action.

According to Eskom, the high unplanned maintenance and load losses, combined with the usual high planned maintenance of generating units, poor coal quality, wet coal and low stockpile levels were to blame for South Africa's recent outages.

The report found that inadequate primary energy procurement and power station production planning affected coal stockpiles, which were allowed to decline to unacceptably low levels.

This was compounded by a reluctance to obtain supplementary coal due to its high cost and its impact on Eskom's financial position.

Nersa said although Eskom had anticipated the current growth rate, the implementation of measures to provide for this growth were inadequate and slow.

There were delays in bringing mothballed power plants back online, and the implementation of energy efficiency and demand management was lagging targets.

Eskom's building programme is experiencing delays of at least a year.

The regulator said the government should consider formulating a policy that would balance Eskom's commercial decisions and the national security of electricity supply in order to avoid national crises.

Further investigation into the management of primary energy, coal management and the availability, adequacy and optimum utilisation of Eskom's generation plant in emergencies, especially in view of the mid-life of these plants, was also recommended.