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SUSTAINABLE ENERGY NEWS NUMBER 8

5. SA Energy Bills & conferences

Integrated National Energisation Programme The Department of Minerals and Energy Affairs (DME) has finally realised what SECCP has argued all along - that simply extending the national grid will not supply equitable and sustainable access to energy. At a parliamentary portfolio committee hearing DME announced that it had outperformed its RDP target by managing to connect 2.7million 1994 and 1999. In the process it learnt that people were using far less that the 350 KWh per month it had assumed people would use for the simple reason that one's income determines one's consumption level. As a result the Department found it difficult to recover the capital cost of the infrastructure. The same applies to schools in the rural areas where the lack income generating capacity results in non-payment. For this reason DME has concluded that there is a need to accelerate consumption and has decided to shift its focus from establishing as many electricity connections as possible to enabling people to pay for the electricity, ie the focus has shifted toward sustainability of these connections and therefore the socio-economic development of these communities. Thus the available funds would be spent differently, as one would now also have regard to the impact of the electricity on the lives of the people. The trade-off is that fewer people will be connected in future. For example, instead of spending R40 million on electrifying many households, it will be spent on electrifying one milling plant. Although there would be fewer connections more jobs would be created, enabling people to pay for electricity. This economic development would require co-ordination between the different Departments. The DME has identified priorities for the future. There needs to be integration between the Plans of the DME and those of the other Departments. There should be a continued focus on backlogs. The DME should also concentrate on the rural areas (which are the priority areas identified as developmental nodes). The Department will aim to get as many connections as possible with the available funds. There should be harmonisation between the grid and non-grid electrification programmes, ie. where the consumer has no access to grid s/he would be able to use non-grid. The DME's plans for 2002/3 include allocating funds to municipalities with licenses. Eskom allocates to those without licenses. R120 million will be available from German funding. This will be used for renewable energy and poverty alleviation. The DME has to ensure that they have enough capacity for service delivery. SECCP has always claimed that a viable solution to energy poverty is to provide a variety of renewable energy option (not just the expensive solar home system option) because renewable energy technologies are labour intensive, directly producing more jobs than fossil fuel or nuclear development. Renewable energy can be set up at an affordable cost in small units and is therefore suitable for community management and ownership, unlike the nuclear and fossil fuels plants, which will always belong to big companies and state-owned enterprises like Eskom. And, the demand for renewable energy is growing globally and so it provides both a path to sustainable economic growth and potential exports.

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