BLSA slams electricity bill delay as ‘appalling’

Business Leadership CEO Busisiwe Mavuso is “appalled” by the “unacceptable” delays in processing a key piece of legislation which is crucial for the liberalisation of the energy market.

She says the delay suggests parts of government are not serious about the changes needed.

Mavuso commented in her weekly newsletter on the delay in processing the Electricity Regulation Amendment (ERA) Bill that came to light last week. The bill was approved by cabinet in March but was only submitted by the office of the chief state law adviser (Ocsla) to parliament on Tuesday last week.

Chairperson of parliament’s mineral resources and energy committee Sahlulele Luzipo said last week if the committee was not formally introduced in September there was little chance it could be processed before next year’s national and provincial elections. The bill is a section 76 bill (in terms of the constitution) which means it will have to be sent to the provinces which will prolong its processing.

“The situation is highly frustrating for organised business, which has been working hard with government to resolve the (energy) crisis,” Mavuso said. “For business to continue to invest its energy into partnering with government to resolve the crisis, we need confidence that such bungles will not happen. We need to see the institution of government holding people accountable when agreed actions are not taken, just as we would see in business.

“After last week, there are many in business that are concerned we are being taken advantage of. Business cannot expend its efforts and resources with no prospect of positive outcomes for the business environment. It makes it difficult to sustain the support of business.”

The private sector has partnered with government in establishing work streams to address the three key challenges facing the economy — energy, logistics and crime — with 120 CEOs involved in the process.

Mavuso said business’ frustration over the ERA Bill misstep “is in large part because it is so unnecessary. It is purely a bureaucratic bungle, not one born from the complexity of achieving policy reform. But it has revealed that certain parts of government are just not serious in delivering the change we need. Our partnership has to include mechanisms to course correct in the face of such bungles. I hope that we can urgently find a route to do so.”

Mavuso said that due to apparent administrative bungling, the bill has not been properly tabled in parliament by the department of mineral resources & energy (DMRE) , so the process by parliament’s mineral resources and energy committee for it to become law has not started. “The delays are inexplicable and unacceptable,” Mavuso said.

“The bill is an urgent piece of legislation that is central to the joint efforts of business and government to solve the electricity crisis. It will allow for the creation of a Transmission System Operator to manage the national grid and procure electricity from a competitive market.

“It is key to attracting the investment needed to expand the capacity of the grid. It will create a level playing field for all generators of electricity, both private and public, which is the fastest way to get new electricity onto the grid at the lowest cost.”

TheDMRE insisted last week it was not responsible for the delay in processing the bill and gave the assurance in a statement it was committed to the transformation of SA’s energy sector and wanted the bill to be finalised expeditiously.

“The process leading towards the promulgation of the bill into an act of parliament lies within parliament as prescribed in the rules of parliament. During this process, the department has been in constant engagements with Ocsla to ensure speedy processing of the bill,” the department said in a statement.

Mavuso noted that had the bill been correctly submitted to parliament in April, SA would be much further down the road to solving the electricity crisis.

“The mineral resources and energy committee in parliament already has a full agenda making it difficult to process the bill through required public consultations in time for the year-end break.

“While the DMRE did not submit the bill properly, it is also inexplicable to me why parliament did not raise the alarm earlier. It leaves me feeling like neither are taking the electricity crisis seriously enough. It suggests that there are silos within government, and they are not united in delivering the resolution to the electricity crisis that the country desperately needs.”

ensorl@businesslive.co.za