Power programme not to hike prices
Johannesburg – The City’s Environment and Infrastructure MMC Michael Sun has said the independent power producer (IPP) programme would not lead to increased electricity prices.
The programme, which is aimed at decreasing the city’s dependency on Eskom by boosting capacity, wrapped up its first phase in November, with publishing of a request for proposals, and submissions closing in February.
Sun said they hope to finalise the next step in the process soon after that closing date.
“We hope that by April to May this year we can be hen, able to sign up IPPs in terms of a power purchase agreement, if not sooner. We would like to on-board the IPPs as soon as they are ready, and as soon as we get the go-ahead from the of Mineral Resources department,” he said.
He added that they would be pulling funds from the budget already allocated for bulk purchases.
“Instead of using the money to purchase power from Eskom, we would simply channel them, or at least a portion of them to IPPs. Our electricity tariffs are published and adjusted annually, so it is an annual process, but it will not go up because we will be buying from private producers,” Sun said.
