Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown is sticking to her guns that the independent power producer (IPP) programme must be implemented at a pace and price that Eskom can afford. The minister will work with Energy Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi on how to deal with the outstanding power purchase agreements arising out of bid windows 4 and 4.5, which have not been signed yet. The price set in these agreements would have to be negotiated. Brown said at a media briefing ahead of her budget vote speech in the National Assembly on Thursday that all she wanted was for the energy mix to be implemented in a "balanced way". "Eskom has an excess of 3,000MW-4,000MW so I would recommend to the minister (Kubayi) that it (the IPP programme) be at a pace and a price that we can afford." Brown said the credit ratings agencies had remarked that the fast rate of spending on the independent power producer programme over such a short space could "crash" Eskom’s balance sheet. Eskom had informed Brown that at...
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