In what some would see as a sudden move, Eskom announced on Monday the 18th of November, it has employed finally, a new CEO. Andre de Ruyter, has officially been announced as new Eskom CEO. But who is he, I am sure you would like to know a little bit more about Eskom's new CEO, who will be charged with the "unbundling" of Eskom into three separate entities. So, who is this new CEO? We take a brief look back at the 50 year old's accomplishes. Currently employed as the CEO at

Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe, has finally released it's much awaited IRP (Integrated Resource Plan) on Friday past. So if you're not already aware of this new energy plan, let's unpack it a little bit. The policy includes some surprising interventions. Some of these notable interventions include the following: Coal Dependence Currently, in terms of the total energy generation in South Africa, coal accounts for 77% of that across all it's coal plants.

This week, we have some more positive news other than the Boks making it through to the semi-finals of the world cup! Eskom has suspended load-shedding for today, and the outlook and possibilities for load-shedding happening for the rest of the week remains a very low possibility. This is is despite the continued constraints and vulnerabilities that exists with the current power grid. In a statement released by Eskom, they mention that the system has improved and this was lar

The state-owned enterprise, Eskom, has downgraded stage level for load-shedding to stage 1. This is the case at the time of writing but there still remains the strong possibility that the stage level will be upgraded to stage two, and this could even be a possibility today and definitely going into the weekend. This despite Eskom CEO, Jabu Mabuza saying that load-shedding should cease by this weekend. The current load-shedding implementation has been blamed on boiler leaks a

Dear User , Please be advised that as of the 1st of October, 2019, we have gained support for the following municipalities : DCL Metering Dynamic Prepaid Watelec Zotos Ventures Matzikama Municipality Ontec DA Metering Systems Ontec Meter Man Systems Centlec Direct If you are part of of these municipalities and utilities, we are plead to announce that you are supported on our platform and you are free to register and make your prepaid electricity purchases through our platfor

Residents of the Newcastle municipality can breath easy, at least for now. The Pietermartizberg High Court yesterday ruled against Eskom's decision to shut down the electricity supply to the municipality. This due to Newcastle owing Eskom R200m in accumulated debt, which spans a two year period. In delivering his final decision on the matter, Judge Piet Bezuidenhout mentioned that the small town relies on the municipality to power their households and business in the area. I

Gwede Mantashe, minister of mineral resources and energy has let the cat out the bag at a round table recently. He says that the South African government is looking at nuclear energy solutions in the long-term energy strategy. Under former state president Jacob Zuma's administration, the then minister of energy tried to push through a nuclear energy deal with Russian energy company, Rostom, which, had it succeeded, would have effectively bankrupted the country's coffers. Ci

The aim of The National Braai Day initiative is to position National Heritage Day as South Africa’s annual day of celebration. The call is on all South Africans to unite around fires, to share our heritage and wave the flag on 24 September every year. The South African government has set this day aside for all South Africans to celebrate our rich heritage. Across all races, languages, region and religion, there is one common heritage we all love and share. It goes by various

It has recently been announced by NERSA, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa, that the tariff price of electricity will be increased over the next three years. Thankfully for all consumers, it's a shadow of the original requests made by public energy utility company Eskom. These requests were for 17.1%, 15.4% and 15.5% respectively, and although these are basically extortionate, the current approved tariff hikes are still a concern for businesses and consumers all a

During the Afriforesight Future of Coals and Bulk Commodities Conference, Eskom board member Nelisiwe Magubane made a very odd and somewhat surprising admission in front of an audience listening in on the thoughts of various leaders on the future of energy in our country. At this sit in, she made the remark that economic growth, would put South Africa on "the brink of load-shedding". She does go on to explain why a positive economic outlook would have a negative impact on E

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) is investigating the City of Cape Town’s electricity tariff increase and its tariff structure. This was confirmed by Nersa spokesperson, Charles Hlebela following an outcry from residents and numerous complaints. “Nersa received numerous complaints regarding the City of Cape Town’s electricity tariffs and is looking into the matter”, Charles Hlebela confirmed. The investigation was widely welcomed, specifically from civic

According to the latest statistics released by the municipality, the dams in and around Cape Town has reached 80.6% capacity. Meanwhile, collective water consumption is also inching up in Cape Town, with an increase of 20 megalitres (Ml) per day from 588Ml to 608Ml. This year, some really good rainfall driven by a few strong cold frontal systems has significantly increased the levels of our dams. As a result, the current levels are sitting pretty, as can be seen by the foll

This morning, the city of Johannesburg was hit with a computer virus which resulted in a blackout to its internet technology system. This blackout resulted in scores of prepaid electricity users being left in the dark, as they struggle to make prepaid electricity purchases. City Power spokesperson, Isac Mangena, said the virus had attacked its database and other internal software, impacting on most of it's applications as well as their network systems. The computer virus th

The financial crisis Eskom is enduring has become a national debt problem. On Tuesday, 23rd of July, minister of finance, Tito Mboweni has unveiled a second, multi-billion rand bailout plan in five months, which would see the government increase borrowing as well as taxes. Tito Mboweni, tabled a special appropriation bill for Eskom which would see them benefit from an additional R59bn cash injection. This bill provides for an additional amount of funds to be made available t

On Saturday, 20th of July an upgrade of the infrastructure to Hout Bay harbour and surrounding areas has been planned. This outage is considered crucial in a bid to improve the reliability and security of the electricity supply in this area. The upgrade is expected to cause disruption between the hours of 6:00 to 18:00. In a press release, the City's Mayoral Committee Member for Energy and Climate Change, Councillor Phindile Maxiti had the following to say about this inte

Acting Chief Executive Officer of Zimbabwe's power utility, ZESA, yesterday confirmed that they require at least US$14m a month to meet its 600MW power deficit. Zimbabwe has had to start implementing rotational load shedding in May, due to a combination of low water levels at Kariba Dam's hydroelectric power plant, generation constraints at ageing power stations and limited foreign imports. According to authorities in Zimbabwe, the country should have had power cuts long b

Last night, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has delivered his state of the nation address at parliament which has received mixed reactions across the board. This year's SONA was President Cyril Ramaphosa's second. State-owned enterprises, access to higher education, women abuse, unemployment and the revival of the economy were among the key issues that were raised during the SONA speech. The SONA proceeded quite peacefully throughout it's duration, with no disru

In this article, we now focus on our residents who currently reside in City of Tshwane, who will also, like everyone else be largely affected by the tariff hikes on the 1st of July. The increases will see the residents of Tshwane cough up a bit more in payment of their utility bills. Rate payers will have to pay an extra 8% on their water bills while electricity is expected to be increased by 12% This comes after newly sworn in mayor, Stevens Mokgalapa made mention and discu

Nersa has recently accepted a proposal from Eskom for the increase in tariffs, which would take effect on the first of July, 2019. In this article we focus in on residents in the eThekwini municipality and how this affects them. We will have a look at what exactly will be increased and by how much. In a poll that was conducted recently by the Daily News, a whopping ninety-four percent of people indicated that they cannot afford the eThekwini Municipailty's proposed tariff inc

We take a look at how tariff increases would be affecting the City of Cape Town and it's residents. What is of particular interest for our user based in Cape Town, are those who consume up to and not exceeding 450kWh per month. These are attributed the Lifeline tariff, and are subject to free basic electricity.