Timing of electricity bill is bad, MPs told
(02 Nov 2005)
Cape Town - The tabling of the National Electricity Regulator Bill was badly timed given upcoming municipal elections, and could create "undue administrative burdens" for suppliers and consumers, parliament heard yesterday. It could also create confusion about electricity supplies to large users such as industry and mines.
The portfolio committee on minerals and energy was holding a public hearing on the bill, which is seen as the final cog in the wheel of a string of bills aimed at restructuring the electricity industry. But it was soon mired in string of issues.
The bill had been tagged as one that should be considered in full by both the national assembly and the national council of provinces, with the former looking at how it would affect national issues and the latter how it would affect local and provincial governments.
And there also seemed to be general unease that it was being introduced when the other key aspects of the sweeping restructuring of electricity were still being bedded down.
The SA Local Government Association said the timing of the bill was "disconcerting" as most municipalities were too busy preparing for the upcoming municipal elections to pay much attention to what the bill could mean to them.
The move to the new six regional electricity distributors had only started to get under way, and the bill seemed to have major implications for the way they operated.
Committee members said that while municipal office bearers would be closely involved in the upcoming elections, they found it hard to understand why officials could not "run with the process" in the meantime.
An adviser to the Chamber of Mines, Dick Kruger, said a proper legislative framework for the electricity industry was overdue. But the bill could add another layer of bureaucracy to electricity provision.
The committee seemed concerned that while mines had acted as distributors in the past, with little red tape, they had provided electricity only to their mines and the immediate community that depended on the mines.
Hostels and communities surrounding the mines were seldom catered for. Kruger said there were "still some regrettable things" happening to mine workers but progress was being made. Author : Lynda Loxton
