Towards a comprehensive analysis of South Africa’s electricity sector, the necessary energy transition, and the role of a radically reformed public utility

TNI is working with the Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC), Trade Unions for Energy Democracy (TUED), and South Africa's National Union of Metalworkers (NUMSA) and National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in developing a road map to establish a new public electricity system based on a progressive restructuring of Eskom, the country’s state-owned power company. To this end, a Reference Group has been set up with researchers from these organisations.

Formed in September 2018, following a three-day working meeting on energy democracy in Johannesburg jointly organised by AIDC, TNI and TUED, the Reference Group is examining both the origins and structural features of the current crisis of Eskom and how to address them. The Reference Group is currently engaged in a comprehensive analysis of South Africa’s electricity sector and is attempting to map a bold approach to the required energy transition.

A full report of the Reference Group’s findings, provisionally titled Our Power: Achieving a Just Energy Transition for South Africa, will be released later in the year. The report will contain proposals for an extensive transformation of the entire electricity sector, and the crucial role, particularly in relation to renewable energy, that a radically reformed public utility will need to play. It will draw extensively on the experience of the labour movement and specifically the knowledge and insights of NUMSA and NUM members and leaders.

More information about the objectives and works of the Reference Group can be found on this website: www.new-eskom.org

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