DEPARTMENT: PUBLIC ENTERPRISES
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

QUESTION FOR WRITTEN REPLY

QUESTION NO.: 522

DATE OF PUBLICATION: 05 March 2010

Mr P van Dalen (DA) to ask the Minister of Public Enterprises:

(1)(a) How much electricity is exported by Eskom, (b) where is the electricity exported to, (c) at what tariff and (d) what percentage of the total available electricity is exported;

(2) whether there are any contracts in place for each of the exports; if not, why not; if so, (a) what are the details of these contracts and (b) what is the (i) commencement and (ii) end dates of each contract;

(3) whether the export of electricity is prioritised over domestic supply; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?       NW636E

REPLY

 (1)(a) South Africa exports approximately 1 200GWh of power per month.

(b) Electricity is exported to utilities and end-user industrial mining customers. South Africa has firm contracts to export power to utilities in Botswana (BPC), Namibia (NamPower), Lesotho (LEC) and Swaziland (SEC). Occasionally South Africa exports power to Zimbabwe (ZESA) and Zambia (ZESCO) based on the availability of power in South Africa. This forms part of the South African Power Pool agreement and their non-firm agreements with Eskom.

Electricity is also exported to end-use industrial and mining customers namely Motraco - Aluminium smelter in Mozambique, Skorpion Zinc - Zinc mine in Namibia and Namdeb - Diamond mine in Namibia

In addition, Eskom transports power to Southern Mozambique from the Cahora Bassa scheme.  In the event of any failure on the Cahora Bassa scheme Eskom then supplies the Mozambican utility, EDM,directly.

(c) All agreements are covered by confidentiality provisions therefore we are unable to publicly disclosure these tariff levels. 

(d) Exports, which are based as a percentage of total electricity available for distribution in South Africa, were approximately 5.95% for 2009. Considering that South Africa also imports electricity from neighbouring countries, the net exports (exports less imports) for 2009 is approximately 0.73% of the total electricity available for distribution in South Africa.

(2) All exports are governed by contractual agreements

(3) Exports are not prioritised over domestic supplies - all agreements are treated equitably - in line with their contractual provisions.

Issued by Parliament, April 21 2010

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