With arrear debt owing to Eskom by municipalities having breached R110-billion, the State-owned company has announced that credit control processes could be initiated against 14 municipalities that may result in electricity supply being disrupted to customers in those areas. In a statement, Eskom announced that it had begun the process of issuing notices in terms of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (PAJA) to provide an opportunity for affected parties to make representations before further action was taken. 
More than $50-billion has been committed to an ambitious plan to halve the number of people without access to electricity in Africa, according to the World Bank, its biggest backer. The programme, named Mission 300 because of its goal to bring electricity to 300-million people by 2030, has delivered power to 44-million people since it was officially announced at a conference in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in January last year.
South Africa’s electricity market is evolving rapidly, shaped by a convergence of policy shifts, technological advances and growing global trade requirements. Yet, a persistent challenge is understanding the role of electricity traders within the energy market – what they do, why they exist and how they underpin both investment and competitiveness in the electricity sector, electricity trader Apollo Africa CEO Nico de Bruyn writes.