South Africa\u2019s cabinet approved a bill on electricity regulation designed to clear the path for private generation projects and power trading.<\/p>\n
State-owned Eskom has provided more than 90% of electricity used by the most industrialized nation on the continent for a century.<\/p>\n
The Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill outlines an entity to buy power as a step toward establishing a competitive market.<\/p>\n
The Draft Electricity Amendment Bill has been approved for submission to parliament and will be prioritized, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni told reporters in Pretoria, the capital, on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Eskom has become an unprofitable utility, despite its monopoly, and is moving ahead with a plan to separate the business into generation, transmission and distribution units.<\/p>\n
The bill will strengthen the role of the National Energy Regulator of South Africa and allow measures to create a transmission system operator that includes the \u201cprovision of an electricity trading platform on a multi-market basis, and provide access to the transmission network on a non-discriminatory basis,\u201d Ntshavheni said in a statement.<\/p>\n