DA’s Cheaper Electricity Bill tabled in Parliament

24 October 2019

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is pleased to announce that our Private Members Bill, the Independent Electricity Management Operator (IEMO) Bill also known as the Cheaper Electricity Bill, has been tabled in Parliament this afternoon.

The introduction of this Bill couldn’t have come at a more apt time in light of the recent rolling blackouts experienced last week. These power cuts came a month after the utility assured the public and the DA that there would be no planned rolling blackouts for the months of September and October following the Party’s revelations that the utility had warned municipalities of the possibility of imminent blackouts.

It has become evident that Eskom’s leadership is incapable of turning the beleaguered utility around and that their strategies and promises have amounted to nothing. South Africans have lost faith in the utility which can no longer be trusted to keep the lights on.

Eskom has effectively become a zombie enterprise that is both overinflated and riddled with corruption. Furthermore, it has a complete monopoly over the generation and distribution of electricity.

The DA is of the belief that the only way we can stabilise and secure our electricity grid is to break Eskom’s monopoly.

The Cheaper Electricity Bill seeks to break Eskom into two separate entities - a generation and transmission/distribution entity. Our plan would see a generation entity which is privatised in an effort to break Eskom’s monopoly on the production of energy, allowing Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to compete on an equal footing in the generation sector.

Well-functioning metros will be able to source energy directly from IPPs and electricity supply will ultimately become more stable, cleaner and cheaper.

Eskom poses the single biggest risk to our economy - jumping from bailout to bailout just to stay afloat.

The DA calls on our colleagues in the opposition benches and across the political divide to set our differences aside and to support the introduction of this Bill in order to ensure a secure future for all South Africans.

In the coming days, the DA will hand over our plan at the Union Buildings as we believe that energy security in South Africa requires cooperation across the political divide.

Issued by Natasha Mazzone, DA Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises, 24 October 2019