Vitriol against DA is driving attack on Cheaper Electricity Bill
Loading player...
When any bill is introduced in parliament it follows a defined process. The draft legislation is placed before the relevant portfolio committee, which will be briefed on all aspects of the legislation, including the constitutionality of the proposals and the legality of the various clauses. It may be opened up for public comment, and the committee may seek a more comprehensive public participation process.
The committee will debate the desirability of the bill and engage with the substance of the document. They will conclude with a clause-by-clause reading of the bill, wherein they can amend each and every element before the bill is placed before the National Assembly for consideration and a vote.
So when the chief whip of the official opposition, Natasha Mazzone, submitted a private members bill, the Independent Electricity Management Operator (IEMO) Bill — also known as the Cheaper Electricity Bill — to parliament, one would have expected that to be the process followed. Instead, the bill came under attack from the outset.
The ANC and EFF in the portfolio committees of mineral resources and energy and public enterprises “rejected it with contempt” and dismissed it as attempting to reintroduce apartheid discrimination for electricity consumers. Public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan even went so far as to describe the bill as seeking to expropriate Eskom’s assets without compensation.
Why all the vitriol? Because the DA introduced it? Because it creates a public-private partnership between government and the private sector to manage the electricity grid, its planning, procurement, allocation of resources, system operation and the purchasing of electricity? Because it limits the ability of politically connected cadres and cronies to loot the electricity entity with impunity? The answer is all of the above.
What the bill aims to do is open up the grid, to allow a more competitive electricity generation sector that would see independent power producers (IPPs) treated fairly and permit them to compete on a level playing field with Eskom (which would be limited to being a generation entity. As things currently stand, Eskom has a monopoly from generation through to transmission and distribution, and it can pick and choose which IPPs it wants to allow in, at a price it determines.
The IEMO Bill picks up and builds on from where an earlier process was abandoned in 2014: the Independent System and Market Operator (Ismo) Bill was withdrawn without explanation after most electricity experts and ...
The committee will debate the desirability of the bill and engage with the substance of the document. They will conclude with a clause-by-clause reading of the bill, wherein they can amend each and every element before the bill is placed before the National Assembly for consideration and a vote.
So when the chief whip of the official opposition, Natasha Mazzone, submitted a private members bill, the Independent Electricity Management Operator (IEMO) Bill — also known as the Cheaper Electricity Bill — to parliament, one would have expected that to be the process followed. Instead, the bill came under attack from the outset.
The ANC and EFF in the portfolio committees of mineral resources and energy and public enterprises “rejected it with contempt” and dismissed it as attempting to reintroduce apartheid discrimination for electricity consumers. Public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan even went so far as to describe the bill as seeking to expropriate Eskom’s assets without compensation.
Why all the vitriol? Because the DA introduced it? Because it creates a public-private partnership between government and the private sector to manage the electricity grid, its planning, procurement, allocation of resources, system operation and the purchasing of electricity? Because it limits the ability of politically connected cadres and cronies to loot the electricity entity with impunity? The answer is all of the above.
What the bill aims to do is open up the grid, to allow a more competitive electricity generation sector that would see independent power producers (IPPs) treated fairly and permit them to compete on a level playing field with Eskom (which would be limited to being a generation entity. As things currently stand, Eskom has a monopoly from generation through to transmission and distribution, and it can pick and choose which IPPs it wants to allow in, at a price it determines.
The IEMO Bill picks up and builds on from where an earlier process was abandoned in 2014: the Independent System and Market Operator (Ismo) Bill was withdrawn without explanation after most electricity experts and ...
