Business Day Live – ELECTRICITY regulator Thembani Bukula says last week’s reversal of the decision not to allow Eskom to retrieve from consumers the billions it is spending on diesel for its open-cycle gas turbines was not the result of government pressure.

Coinciding with this change of tune came the announcement that his boss, the CEO of the National Energy Regulator of South Africa, Phindile Baleni, had decided to quit to become director-general in the department of the Gauteng premier.

Speculation is that Baleni, wife of National Union of Mineworkers boss Frans Baleni, was unhappy with Nersa’s decision to reverse its previous determination and pass Eskom’s diesel costs on to the consumer.

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Woman24 – Early results from a pilot project, which charges customers higher rates for power on selected peak demand days, are “very promising”, Eskom says.

Johannesburg – Early results from a pilot project, which charges customers higher rates for power on selected peak demand days, are “very promising”, Eskom says.

“The critical peak day pricing is a pricing option Eskom is currently piloting with customers who have opted into the pilot,” Eskom’s media desk said.

The pilot project began in October 2013 and would run until October this year.

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Business Day Live – THE African National Congress (ANC) decided at its annual lekgotla last week to sink the Independent System Market Operator Bill that would have led to the restructuring of the electricity sector.

SA’s energy shortfall was a major focus of discussion at the four-day meeting of top leaders of the ruling party, which has been sending out conflicting signals for years on the future shape of the electricity industry.

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IOL – Johannesburg – Scheduled blackouts were the “right thing” to do, Eskom CEO Tshediso Matona said on Thursday.

“We have arrived at a turning point where can either continue to do the same things of the past… or we can do the right thing… to get us out of this difficult situation,” he told reporters in Johannesburg.

Blackouts were necessary to allow Eskom to catch up with the maintenance of its generating units.

IOL

Eskom – Introduction On December 9 we said the following …

• We apologised to the nation for the inconvenience of the past few weeks due to load shedding.

• We communicated that for an extended period the power system is extremely constrained and vulnerable.

• With the system being tight, any abnormal event pushes us into load shedding.

• With the reserve margin being low , we do not have enough capacity to meet demand , necessitating planned, controlled and rotational load shedding, to protect the power system from a total country – wide blackout.

http://www.eskom.co.za/news/Documents/20150115CE_SystemStatusPresent.pdf

Mail & Guardian – There will be load shedding even if it may cost the ANC votes.

This is the expressed attitude of Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown, who remains resolute about fixing the problems plaguing power utility Eskom for the long term, even if it means doing the unpopular thing.

But this approach has drawn resistance from Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson, who is apparently accused of “overstepping her turf”.

http://mg.co.za/article/2015-01-15-at-the-heart-of-eskoms-darkness

The South African government will help raise cash to fund utility Eskom’s purchases of diesel from February, when the power utility is expected to run out of money to purchase the fuel used to prevent blackouts.

Cabinet announced this week that Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa will oversee the turnaround plans of Eskom, as well as South African Airways (SAA) and the South African Post Office (SAPO).

Link: http://www.moneyweb.co.za/moneyweb-south-africa/government-to-help-eskom-raise-cash-to-curb-power