The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy has urged stakeholders in the electricity industry to engage on an ongoing basis to avoid litigation, following a court ruling this week referring a dispute between the Minister and the City of Cape Town over the procurement of electricity from independent power producers back to the parties to seek a settlement. The City of Cape Town has, since 2015, been in dispute with the national government and the National Energy Regulator of South Africa regarding its right to contract directly with IPPs, after it failed to receive a response from the Energy Minister to its request for a Ministerial determination under Section 34 of the Electricity Regulation Act to enable it to do so.
