Energy debate likely to shift from availability to affordability – Cape Town mayor
With power utility Eskom breaching 300 days without loadshedding, the national energy debate is likely to shift from availability to affordability, says Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.
Addressing the Cape Town Press Club this week, he said “every, single MW” the city was buying from sources other than Eskom was cheaper than the electricity on offer from the State-owned entity – and this was before the up-to-44% tariff hike application Eskom had lodged with the National Energy Regulator of South Africa for the 2025/26 financial year.
“I think the debate is increasingly going to turn to the affordability of power, and not so much availability,” noted Hill-Lewis.
“The last ten years public anger has been focused on availability, and we kind of put up with these extraordinary price increases because of the availability crisis.
“Now that this is receding, we’ll have a lot more public attention on the affordability issue.”
Hill-Lewis said the lull in loadshedding had not convinced the City of Cape Town to deviate from its planned energy budget, with the metro rolling out several power projects to reduce its reliance on Eskom, including a new solar plant, a battery energy storage system, and a small-scale energy generation programme.
Hill-Lewis hoped loadshedding would not make a return, “for South Africa’s sake”, but added that anything remained possible.
At this point, the city’s power programme was increasingly driven by soaring Eskom costs more than anything else, he added.
“Frankly, we must continue to reduce our reliance on Eskom as quickly as possible.”
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
Introducing the Rio-Carb Smart Chute Concept - a revolutionary advancement in materials handling, designed for the toughest industries like mining...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Avlock International is a leading manufacturer and distributor of Specialized Fastening Systems.
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
