Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says that Eskom is looking to increase the amount of power it can procure from private generators and neighbouring countries – quadrupling the current limit from 1,000MW to 4,000MW in hopes of easing rolling power cuts in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“There are an extraordinary amount of players who are coming on stream and saying that we can contribute to the resolution of this [electricity] crisis,” said Ramokgopa at a media briefing<\/a> on Monday (25 March).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eskom has been implementing various strategies for procuring more power – one of which has been the Standard Offer Programme announced back in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This programme buys excess power from existing Independent Power Producers (IPPs), large industrial companies and neighbouring countries at a fixed cost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt also allows for a predictable tariff, which is adjusted each year based on the regulatory-approved cost recovery mechanism and covers the variable cost of local generation,\u201d said Eskom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Explaining the programme, Ramokgopa said that “essentially it is [Eskom] going out to the market, both domestically and internationally, to say those who have got excess generating capacity, please make it available to us [at a predetermined tariff].” <\/p>\n\n\n\n Since Eskom started this procurement initiative, it has had a ceiling of 1,000MW, which could and was planned to run for three years (however, the minister consistently refers to two). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ramokgopa said that this was then “oversubscribed” to 1,130 MW. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Thus, a proposal to increase the ceiling to 4000MW and remove the two-year timeframe has been taken to Eskom’s board for approval. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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