AfriForum welcomes revocation of document on private electricity generation

The civil rights organisation AfriForum welcomes the official revocation by the National Energy Regulator (Nersa) of the consultation paper on the concept rules for the registration of small-scale embedded power generation.

The revocation was preceded by the gathering of public commentary on the state’s mandate to register and regulate the ability of communities and individuals to generate power themselves.

Morné Mostert, Head of Local Government Affairs at AfriForum, says that communities evidently rejected the flawed consultation document.

“It isn’t the end, however. The Minister of Energy published a draft amendment gazette for public commentary. Nersa will now develop new draft rules that are consistent with these amendments. AfriForum will react to the new concept rules as soon as we know what these entail.”

Dr Eugene Brink, AfriForum’s Strategic Advisor for Community Affairs, says that the state should rather leave alone people’s ability to privately generate power.

“Paying residents suffer increasingly under power interruptions because of municipal corruption, as well as the mismanagement and non-payment of electricity fees. The state should not exacerbate this by trying to manage and complicate people’s ability to privately generate power.”