Eskom has applied to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) to reserve grid connection capacity for public independent power producers (IPPs) in preparation for the upcoming Bid Window 7 procurement process.

Eskom’s application, submitted under section 21(2) of the Electricity Regulation Act, seeks NERSA’s approval to allocate grid capacity preferentially to public IPPs. This would be at the expense of private IPP projects.

The closing date for comments is Saturday, May 25.

Section 21(2) stipulates that a licensee must not discriminate between customers or customer classes regarding access, tariffs, prices and conditions of service, except for objectively justifiable and identifiable differences approved by the regulator.

NERSA has prepared a consultation paper and requests stakeholders and members of the public to provide written comments in response to Eskom’s application.

The written comments must be submitted to NERSA for the attention of Ezekiel Ngwasheng at ezekiel.ngwasheng@nersa.org.za.