Business sets ambitious goal to cut power consumption

According to Siseko Njobeni of the Business Day deputy CEO of BUSA Raymond Parsons recently suggested that businesses in SA, “would cut their power consumption by about 5,000MW as a part of a plan to assist in conserving energy”. This surely must be one of the strangest statements to emerge from someone supposedly representing business? Why on earth would the private sector willingly cut down on an input which is vital to continue its existence – surely the correct response is to demand that the current monopoly is unbundled allowing space for independent power producers to enter the market and for Eskom to stop its perverse role as both referee and player in the electricity ‘market’?

Siseko Njobeni reports that, “Parson’s comments emerged after a meeting with Energy Minister Dipuo Peters”. Mr Peters essentially must have said to Mr Parsons that due to Eskom’s incompetency they are in no position to keep up with the demand for electricity in this country, which is vital to attract foreign business and to grow our stagnating economy, so please can you ask your members to buy less of our service?

Author: Jasson Urbach, FMF economist, commenting on a report by Sieko Njobeni, Business sets ambitious goal to cut power consumptionBusiness Day, April 07, 2010.

For text: http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=105430

FMF Policy Bulletin/ 06 April 2010