DA to ask Speaker to look into Parliament’s flawed rejection of Cheaper Electricity Bill
1 September 2020
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is deeply disappointed in the manner in which the Independent Electricity Management Operator (IEMO) Bill was handled by the Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources and Energy. The Bill was today rejected by the Portfolio Committee as being “undesirable” and thus will not progress further.
The IEMO Bill, colloquially referred to as the “Cheaper Electricity Bill” was introduced by Democratic Alliance (DA) Chief Whip, Natasha Mazzone, in December 2019, in an effort to create an independent public-private partnership that would manage grid operations, electricity planning, source electricity from a variety of generation plants and sell it to municipal and industrial customers. It was an attempt to create a level playing field between Eskom (as the country’s primary generator) and independent power producers (IPPs).
From the outset, it was clear that the ANC, EFF and IFP were opposed to the bill, with comments such as “we reject this bill with contempt” and “this is an effort to reintroduce apartheid” being bandied about in committee. Even Minister Pravin Gordhan got in on the act: he accused the DA of seeking to expropriate Eskom’s assets into private hands without compensation.
One of the other major criticisms was that the Bill was unconstitutional, in that it sought to those allow metropolitan municipalities, which had the technical and financial capabilities (including having received a clean audit), to source power directly from power producers. No evidence was led as to why this was unconstitutional, nor was an opinion sought from the State Law Advisors or Parliamentary Law Advisors, despite requests from the DA that this be done.