AfriBusiness will oppose the proposed amendment to the Electricity Regulation Act, 2006 (Act No. 4 of 2006), which aims to compel households that generate their own electricity and other small-scale electricity producers to register with the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa).
“It seems that the Department of Energy and Nersa are concerned about the increase in private electricity generation, which is affecting the revenue of both Eskom and municipalities. We are consulting with our legal team to prepare to oppose the proposed amendment. People who generate their own electricity because of Eskom’s lack of ethics, corruption and poor service delivery can in no way be penalised. When load-shedding was at its peak, Eskom urged people to use less power. And now, because we have done so, there is dissatisfaction because of a decrease in revenue,” says Armand Greyling, Law and Policy Analyst at AfriBusiness.
AfriBusiness endeavours to protect its members and the public from tyrannical and draconic forms of legislation and regulations, which seeks to undermine the democratic principles of a free and open society as well as the economic values of a free-market system.
“The state should find alternative ways of supplementing its shortfalls, for instance by better managing its state-owned companies and avoiding fruitless and wasteful expenditure, rather than piggybacking on the few loyal taxpayers that keep the economy functioning in these tough economic times. In an open and free market society, we feel the department and Nersa will clearly be overstepping its bounds by making up their loss with clever legislative manipulation,” Greyling concludes.