After private meetings between Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) and Eskom, the groups have found common ground and support the coming reforms to South Africa’s national grid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This follows weeks of public spats between the two organisations over the planned unbundling of the national power utility, specifically the transfer of its transmission assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Department of Electricity and Energy has been working towards restructuring South Africa’s energy industry to increase competition in the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These plans would also increase transparency surrounding electricity tariffs to help ensure fair pricing for South Africans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The plan is to unbundle Eskom into three independent companies, working in generation, transmission, and distribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Eskom has vaguely supported the plan, it has resisted the push from President Cyril Ramaphosa and private-sector proponents to move its transmission assets to an independent company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eskom’s resistance was supported by a December 2025 statement from the Electricity Department, which announced a “revised unbundling strategy” that allowed the utility to keep the assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was immediately opposed by groups like BLSA, who cried foul and publicly lambasted Eskom for the revision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Various experts and industry leaders accused Eskom of circumventing settled policy in a bid to maintain its stranglehold monopoly of the electricity market in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The “revised policy” also prompted clarifying statements from Ramaphosa, who doubled down on the initial plan to fully split Eskom and transfer the assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eskom objected to the restructuring due to potential financial downsides to its business, which would negatively impact existing investors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Its transmission systems are among its highest-earning sectors, and the company believed that losing them could have major financial consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ramaphosa then formed the Eskom Restructuring Task Team to assess the feasibility of unbundling the power supplier and to address issues Eskom had raised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In its first report, the restructuring team found that establishing an independent transmission systems operator (TSO) was feasible and recommended that the plans to unbundle Eskom go ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n