Katlego Sekhu
Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan revealed that the amount of electricity generated by solar panels has skyrocketed by 350%, which is taking a toll on municipalities’ ability to generate revenue.
In light of this, 959 Breakfast invited Energy Analyst Lungile Mashele to share insights on the unbundling of Eskom, the hike in solar panel energy, and the impending future of Eskom.
Mashele emphasized that unbundling Eskom alone will not solve all the problems faced by the power utility. However, it does make it easier for Eskom to assess its profit centres, enabling them to identify which divisions are profitable and which are not. “They will also, in the future, not be able to submit a bundled tariff to the regulator and will have to submit individual tariffs. It is more transparent and cannot solve the electricity crisis,” she said.
Mashele further highlighted that the significant increase in electricity generated by solar panels occurred between March 2022 and March 2023.
“This is shocking in relation to the solar PVs and inverters that have been ordered since the first of January 2023 until June 2023,” she explained. “Twelve billion rands have gone into that solar space and have yet to receive figures from municipalities. I can tell you now that it is going to be shocking.”
According to Mashele, this surge in solar energy has had a severe impact on Eskom. “It is your rich customers; it is your industries that have gone off or supplemented their use off the grid, leaving the poor, most of which use free electricity or do not have the appliances that drive up that sort of demand. So you are sitting with massive prices for municipalities,” she said.
Furthermore, Mashele pointed out that this is happening a year before the elections, and municipalities are not going to have the funds required for service delivery this coming year.
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