The civil rights organisation AfriForum today during a media conference announced the first phase of the organisation’s 3-phase plan to help solve the energy crisis in the country. The overall plan is known as Project AfriEnergy.

The first phase focuses on short-term solutions. AfriForum released a report to help the public and consumers with relevant information to make the right decisions around issues such as solar panel installation to become more independent from Eskom. This also involves ongoing court actions against the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) who, despite phase 6 loadshedding, announced an electricity increase for consumers.

“Project AfriEnergy is a broad electricity plan that flows from the realization that the state and Eskom are no longer able to supply power to the country. We can no longer watch as the country is destroyed due to the power crisis. AfriForum will play a role in bringing investments and expertise together to look at a multitude of solutions and models.

“The decentralization of electricity is of critical importance, and we will work together with all role players to achieve these goals,” says Kallie Kriel, CEO of AfriForum.

Johan Kruger, AfriForum’s Head of Community Sustainability, outlined the other phases of the plan.

Phase 2: Towns, cities and communities must be helped to put pressure on local governments to free them from electricity sold by municipalities. The model that the private company Rural Free State in the Mafube district in the Free State uses with success will be further researched. This company successfully took over the management of electricity in four towns ten years ago.

Phase 3: This is the long-term phase of the plan where the possibilities of nuclear power and the deployment of nuclear energy solutions are looked at. However, comprehensive research is still needed for this.

“With phase one, it is essential for AfriForum that consumers understand the basic principles of what is available in the market. They must be able to work in a responsible manner to find cost-effective solutions to their power problems. Different consumers in the residential, commercial and industrial sectors all have different needs. With the guide that AfriForum is releasing today, we focus on useful information about what to look out for in the market and how to look for efficient service providers,” says Kruger.

Morné Mostert, AfriForum’s manager for Local Government Affairs, says AfriForum will take legal action to review Nersa’s decision for a tariff increase. The first step will be to request reasons to justify this decision. “We also remain in discussion with our legal team regarding litigation aimed at decentralizing the energy sector of South Africa.”

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