Tag: electricity supply

Ask any budding young entrepreneur in South Africa what they need most, and they will probably rattle off a list as long as your arm: Some moola to invest in their business. A stable electricity supply. The eradication of crime that destroys businesses and results in financial loss. Lower borrowing costs. Reasonable interest rates. And the list goes on.

With an economic growth forecast of only 1.6% over the next three years for South Africa, businesses are facing a tough trading environment, exacerbated by the impact of geopolitical tensions, disruptive new technologies, persistent weather catastrophe threats and failing public infrastructure and services.

To succeed in today’s economic environment, manufacturers must find new ways to create and capture value. But how do they do this when South Africa is currently facing a massive energy crisis, with load shedding impacting production and grinding their operations to a halt?

On Wednesday, 24 May 2023, the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition (MTIC) published the Energy Users Block Exemption and Energy Supplier Block Exemption. The Energy Users Block Exemption allows for collaboration between energy users to respond to the current electricity supply constraints subject to a process of notification to the Competition Commission and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC).

Zimbabwe and South Africa share a common destiny to electricity supply Armageddon. Both Southern African neighbours and traditional trade partners are currently reeling from unprecedented power shortages, with the scourge looking like it is not dissipating any time soon.

It is important to understand the difference between load shedding and electrical grid failure. Load shedding, as we understand it today, is controlled interruption of electricity supply to the public. These scheduled interruptions do not affect any municipal institution; however, electrical grid failure will affect municipalities as well as any public infrastructure.

As we continue to strive for a cleaner planet, governments, industries, and organisations around the world are uniting to build a sustainable future. The time is ripe to explore innovations and technologies that can work to reduce carbon emissions and help to facilitate better resource efficiency.

The electricity crisis in South Africa is self-inflicted. This has become clear from the many costly disruptions in electricity supply over too long a period. There is something fundamentally amiss with government policy in this area. At the centre of the problem is Eskom, the leviathan which enjoys monopolistic protection shielded from potential competition.

A 26% increase in headline earnings per share and a robust balance sheet enabled an 81% increase in the interim dividend per share. The South African economy held up relatively well as global economic conditions deteriorated significantly in the first half of 2022.

The notion of a polycrisis – various systemic crisis occurring simultaneously and interacting with one another – has been around for a while but has gained renewed traction for obvious reasons.