City of Tshwane lobbies Ramaphosa to stop new electricity law

The City of Tshwane says it will write to President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday to lobby him against signing the Electricity Regulation Amendment (ERA) Bill into law. City officials say the bill gives too much power to the National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa) to determine electricity tariffs.

The ERA Bill was passed by the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on Thursday, bringing effect to Eskom's unbundling and paving the way for the electricity supply industry's opening up. The bill makes provision for an independent Transmission System Operator (TSO) that will, among other things, create an open-market platform to enable competitive electricity trading.

This will effectively end Eskom's 100-year monopoly as the only generator of electricity, as the TSO will buy electricity from multiple generators, not just Eskom, on an equal footing.