Cape Town - There is a growing concern about how the relaxing of regulations related to electricity generation will affect Karpowership SA’s controversial 20-year gas-to-power projects.
The government believes the emergency power could help alleviate South Africa’s energy crisis but the projects pose increasing legal risks.
Outa’s application filed on January 23 in the Pretoria High Court, asked it to order Nersa to provide “a complete, unredacted record” of its decisions to award generation licences for the Karpowership projects.
Outa said the secrecy hides the financial implications of the deal, estimated to be more than R200 billion for the proposed 20-year contract.
OUTA’s application – an application to compel – was filed on January 23 in the Pretoria High Court, asking the court to order Nersa to provide “a complete, unredacted record” of its decisions to award generation licences for the Karpowership projects.
This action is part of OUTA’s main application which calls on the court to review and set aside Nersa’s decisions to award the generation licences, however Nersa provided a heavily redacted record which led OUTA to file a notice calling for the full record in terms of the court rules.
Nersa then failed to comply, which has caused OUTA to bring this application to compel. OUTA said the redacted record does not include information on the impact of the rand/dollar exchange rate, any licence conditions, charge rates or tariffs.
Andri Jennings, Outa’s attorney, said the obligation to make the record available rested with Nersa not Karpowership but “Nersa seems to act in accordance with the dictates of Karpowership instead of independently as is required from the regulator”.
Black Business Chamber Secretary General Mntuwekhaya Cishe said: “We welcome the decision by OUTA to challenge Nersa's secrecy in awarding generation licences to Karpowership. If there is anything needed in South Africa today, by all the government aligned entities, it is transparency…
“Any efforts that shows signs of secrecy in conducting business by the state and its aligned entities should be rejected by all sectors of the community,” Cishe added.
Nersa was unable to respond to questions on the matter by the time of publishing. The regulator said it would revert with feedback today.
kristin.engel@inl.co.za