Power Struggle: IPPs accuse Eskom of blocking fair access to the grid

Stephen Grootes speaks to Tommy Garner, executive member of the South African Independent Power Producers Association about escalating tensions between independent power producers and Eskom over control of grid connections.

Listen to the interview in the audio player below.

Private electricity producers are accusing Eskom of unfairly controlling who gets access to the national grid.

This follows a recent High Court ruling that went against Eskom, in which the court found that the power utility acted unlawfully when it took a grid connection away from Mulilo Energy Holdings and gave it to another company, Scatec.

Independent producers say this case highlights a bigger issue: Eskom both generates electricity and controls access to the grid, which they argue is a conflict of interest. 

This is why the industry is pushing for the grid to be fully managed by the National Transmission Company South Africa (NTCSA), a separate entity meant to operate independently.

Speaking to Stephen Grootes on The Money Show, Tommy Garner, executive member of the South African Independent Power Producers Association (SAIPPA) says Eskom has always had the monopoly with regards to electricity generation and distribution in the country.

"There's definitely from a senior management and board point of view, a last effort to say, for how long can we keep this monopoly and milk the system?"

- Tommy Garner, executive member - SAIPPA

"We need more collaboration and less destructive behaviour within Eskom."

- Tommy Garner, executive member - SAIPPA

It's been, not years, but decades actually of Eskom playing this role of obstructing competition. So it's not anything new."

- Tommy Garner, executive member - SAIPPA

Scroll to the top of the article to listen to the full interview.