The relief from load-shedding — now at more than 50 days and counting — has unleashed much speculation about the reason. It is appropriate, therefore, that we lift the lid on the inner workings of the national energy crisis committee (Necom) and provide some insight into what it has taken place in the 21 months since President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the Energy Action Plan (EAP).
But it is also appropriate to start with a caveat: load-shedding has not ended, but we are now seeing a huge amount of collective effort to produce visible results. There are two components to why Necom is making a difference — one is the way we’re working and the other is what we are doing.
The progress we’re seeing pivots on using the leadership and authority of the presidency to convene and co-ordinate those who are directly responsible for implementing the EAP, and to inject urgency and accountability into the process. This is managed through Necom’s governance arrangement supported by a team in the presidency, which is constantly monitoring, measuring and unblocking problems.
This is an approach rooted in international practice, where the centre of government takes the oversight responsibility for delivery. The focus is usually on well-defined priorities whose complexity and cross-cutting character make it difficult for a single state entity to co-ordinate the implementation. What differentiates the Necom effort is the scale of the problem and the programme, as well as the level of urgency. This motivated a governance structure akin to the Covid-19 response.
When Ramaphosa took office in 2019, he immediately set about establishing delivery oversight with dedicated teams, such as Operation Vulindlela, to ensure that the government fulfils its commitments. Delivery oversight and co-ordination from the centre of government, coupled with strong collaboration with social partners, have been a cornerstone of this administration. This approach has paid off and there is tangible improvement through the efforts of the presidency, Necom and dedicated Eskom staff. It is only fair that we recognise the progress and the people — many behind the scenes — who have contributed to the results we are seeing today.
What is Necom exactly? It is a state structure for good reason. Some of its work is confidential, such as the work on criminal syndicates in coal and cable theft. An open forum would undoubtedly stifle the frank and difficult discussions within government that are needed to break logjams. That said, there are strong interlinkages with key external parties, such as Business for SA (B4SA) and a host of energy experts. This is directly linked to the business collaborative initiative of the president, where organised business leaders meet him and other government and state-owned enterprise leaders on the progress being made by the energy, logistics and security crisis committees.
As was the case during the Covid-19 pandemic, business plays a special role in funding the expertise that Necom requires. It raised R100m for energy, managed through a new vehicle, the resource mobilisation fund. This means that Necom is able to quickly commission legal and energy experts to support its workstreams — for example, in areas critical to private generators being able to sell their power, such as wheeling, feed-in tariffs and grid access. It has also provided the channel for B4SA to provide pro bono expertise to Eskom’s coal-powered stations.
Necom has served as a crucial platform to build the relationships that ensure the relevant parties come to the table and do what is necessary. Not unexpectedly, we started with a conglomeration of naysayers, and the major outcomes we sought, like an increase in the energy availability factor, eluded us. Despite the difficult journey since July 2022, the president continues to insist that we stay the course.
Fortunately, there were early wins to demonstrate the value of the way we work. This included the establishment of an Energy One-Stop Shop and the clearing of unnecessary procurement impediments, such as enabling Eskom to procure original equipment manufacturer (OEM) expertise and supplies. And once the debt relief programme came into play, Eskom had sufficient funds for plant maintenance.
Eskom found itself in the unusual position of having a third party — Necom — with line of sight into its operations with consistent monitoring of its progress but not interfering in its day-to-day operations. Not an easy relationship in any circumstance. But we balanced this with direct support to Eskom’s corporate strategy, such as clearing regulatory hurdles to operationalising the National Transmission Company of SA. Out of this has emerged an Eskom relationship with Necom that is open (allowing access to detailed data) and flexible, with senior executives who are supportive and active in all Necom structures.
The crisis provided a unique impetus to reform. This is where the EAP focus has been crucial. It requires more than fixing failing power plants and allows for much-needed reforms to the power sector to be initiated under the Necom umbrella.
Instead of first formulating a full-blown reform strategy, Necom took the approach of being action driven. The first and most critical step was the removal of the licensing requirement for private generators. Since then, we have targeted specific measures important to enabling the early development of a power market.
The quick wins came from regulatory changes — timelines were shortened and regulations amended. For example, renewable energy projects no longer require environmental impact assessments for areas of low and medium environmental sensitivities. The government’s one-stop shop streamlines regulatory approvals. Now, the focus is the wheeling of power, tariff systems, grid access and the development of a wholesale market code.
These reforms have resulted in large-scale investment in renewable energy. There is a pipeline of at least 22GW that we track through Necom.
We continue to build on the success of Necom, making quick corrections to mistakes. The agility of Necom, with its collaborative approach, has led to significant market confidence. Driving energy reform and ending load-shedding have received an overall thumbs up and increased confidence from ordinary people, investors and developers.
Our work is not done but we are on the right track.
• Baleni is director-general in the presidency and secretary of the cabinet and chairs the Necom technical committee.
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