Budget: Godongwana says reforming SA’s energy sector is ‘bearing fruit’
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South Africa’s Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana, delivered his budget speech to the nation in parliament on Wednesday.
The minister said that Load shedding is a problem that confronts all South Africans.
“It disrupts production, operations and livelihoods. Reforming the sector will result in long term energy security. We took the necessary decisions in the past five years and these are bearing fruit,” he said during his speech.
“To promote further investments in renewable energy, this budget proposes an increase in the limit for renewable energy projects that can qualify for the carbon offsets regime, from 15 megawatts to 30 megawatts. Eskom continues to be a key role player in the electricity sector. And the debt relief plan allows the entity to focus on its core business. We will release the report on the independent review of Eskom’s coal-fired power stations in the coming week. The review was done to inform part of the conditions attached to the debt relief plan,” Godongwana said.
The minister said that the recommendations will feed into Eskom’s corporate plans to bolster accountability and oversight.
“It is through the combination of private investment in new energy projects, rooftop solar installations and improvements in Eskom’s generation fleet that load shedding will reduce, and reliability and security of supply improve. In addition, to support these efforts, we are introducing a new R2 billion conditional grant over the medium term to fund the rollout of smart prepaid meters. This will begin with municipalities that have been approved for debt relief,” he further added.
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