This report is focused on identifying the ongoing challenges at Eskom, the South African power utility, thus shedding light on democratic processes and human rights considerations. It adopts a feminist lens in its analysis of the electricity crisis, exploring potential feminist approaches to restructuring the existing electricity grid infrastructure. This includes analyzing the integration of the key principles of a Just Transition, as well as an assessment of the role that key stakeholders can play in fostering improvements through a renewed social compacting process that encompasses pro-development, equitable and inclusive plans for plant decommissioning, the protection of worker's rights, and strategies for up-skilling and reskilling. Additionally, the report delves into Eskom's skill development needs, addressing prevalent talent, cultural, and skill-related issues in a more substantive manner. It also includes a comprehensive analysis of electricity demand and supply forecasting and identifying key factors for achieving a sustainable vision for Eskom. It assesses Eskom's financial situation, its assets, and operational functionality. The report highlights financial and operational inefficiencies at the utility which have caused an ongoing energy crisis in South Africa's energy sector in recent years. This has resulted in rolling blackouts and power cuts, which have had a negative impact on economic growth. Contributing factors to this crisis at the utility include the lack of ethical leadership and escalating levels of corruption, combined with limited maintenance capabilities and decreased reliability of the power supply. Furthermore, policy uncertainty on realizing a feminist, just and socially inclusive energy transition continues to hamstring decisive action on the part of decision makers because of evident competing interests between the Mineral Resources and Energy and Environment Ministries. Finally the report notes the sectors lack of gender-responsive planning and budgeting frameworks and the negative impacts of coal extraction on local livelihoods. The report includes proposals for a variety of different roles civil society can play in advancing progress on these challenges
- Collections
- Research reports & discussion papers
- Pages
- 54
- Published in
- Kenya
- pages
- 54
Table of Contents
- Accountability 5
- Corruption 5
- Decarbonisation 5
- Decommissioning 5
- Energy Governance 5
- Energy Poverty 5
- Energy Security 5
- Informed Consent 5
- Just Transition 5
- Just 5
- Loadshedding 6
- Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme REIPPP 6
- Transparency 6
- EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 7
- ANC 9
- CIF 9
- CPA 9
- CSP 9
- DFFE 9
- DMRE 9
- DoE 9
- ERA Bill 9
- FBE 9
- GNU 9
- IEP 9
- IPP 9
- IRP 9
- ISMO 9
- JET 9
- NDC 9
- NDP 9
- NERA 9
- NTCSA 9
- PCC 9
- REIPPPP 9
- SANEDI 9
- SARETEC 9
- TSO 9
- 1923 10
- 1960s 10
- 1970s 10
- 1990s 10
- 2000s 10
- 2010 10
- 2011 10
- 2014 10
- 2015 10
- 2016 10
- TIMELINE OF KEY EVENTS 10
- 2018 11
- 2019 11
- 2020 11
- 2021 11
- 2022 11
- 2022 11
- 2023 11
- 2024 11
- 1 INTRODUCTION 12
- 1.1 Background Scope and Context of the Study 12
- 1.2 Objectives of the report 14
- 1.3 Research Questions 15
- 1.4 Research Approach and Methods 15
- Data Collection 15
- Data Analysis 15
- 2 ECOFEMINISM AND THE CARE ECONOMY 16
- 2.1 Introduction 16
- 2.2 Social Reproductive Work The Care Economy 16
- 2.3 The Gendered Energy Crisis 17
- 2.4 The Just Energy Transition Green Economy and the Purple Economy 18
- 3 SOUTH AFRICAS POWER UTILITY 20
- 3.1 Eskom and the political economy of South Africa the Mineral Energy Complex 20
- 3.2 Assessing the Status of South Africas Power Utility and Electricity Grid 20
- Governance 20
- Regulation internal evaluation and monitoring 23
- Operating Costs Investment and Finance 24
- Generation Costs 24
- Transmission and Distribution Costs 24
- Debt Servicing 24
- Operational Costs 24
- Maintenance and Upgrades 24
- Production Transmission and Distribution 25
- 3.3 Challenges in Energy Production Transmission and Distribution 27
- Table 1 Electricity Generated production Gigawatts-hours GWH 2002-2014 28
- Year Generated GWH 28
- Table 2 Index electricity generated and percentage change Base 2010 100 28
- Year Volume Generated Percentage Change 28
- 3.4 The Socio-economic Impact of Energy Poverty 29
- A View on Load Shedding 29
- Education and Economic Opportunities 30
- Unemployment and Inequality 30
- The Rural-Urban Divide 31
- Environmental Impact 32
- 3.5 The Need for Change 32
- 4 ATTEMPTS TO MITIGATE THE IMPACT OF THE 33
- ELECTRICITY CRISIS AND RESTORE THE 33
- ELECTRICITY GRID 33
- 4.1 Reform Plans for Energy Production and Transmission 33
- 4.2 Recent Initiatives to Restore the Electricity Grid 34
- Key moments in the path to electricity restoration in South Africa 34
- The Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill 35
- Proposed multi-market model 36
- Possible Downsides of the ERA and Green Transition 37
- 5 RECOMMENDATIONS - ADVOCACY OPPORTUNITIES FOR CIVIL SOCIETY 39
- Eco-Feminism the Care Economy and Social Reproduction 39
- Enhanced Community Say in REIPPPP Bids 40
- Leveraging Existing Policy for Accountability 41
- Advocacy around the Care Economy 42
- Integrating Energy Solutions into the Care Economy 42
- Technical Recommendations for Civil Society 42
- Gender-Sensitive Data Collection and Analysis 42
- Capacity Building 42
- Promotion of Renewable Energy Solutions 42
- Leverage Digital Tools 43
- Operational Recommendations 43
- Advocacy for Energy Policies that Support Social Reproduction 43
- Coalition Building with a Focus on the Care Economy 43
- Community Engagement with a Care Economy Focus 43
- Resource Mobilisation for Care-Focused Energy Projects 43
- Strategic Partnerships and Coalition Building 44
- Policy Monitoring and Advocacy 44
- Community Engagement and Education 44
- Funding and Resource Mobilisation 44
- Monitoring and Evaluation ME 45
- Legal and Regulatory Engagement 45
- References 46
- AND PROSPECTS FOR AN ECOFEMINIST 54
