The provision of power in many Northern Cape towns is on the verge of collapse. And seeing as electricity is the foundation of modern economic activities, a comprehensive solution is urgently needed.
For such a solution, the following needs to happen: administrative changes must be made; Eskom must be willing to compromise; the municipalities that are unable to properly manage power supply must forfeit their authority and towns and cities must develop smart networks where the consumers of power are also the suppliers.
The most recent crisis ensued because Renosterberg Municipality (Philipstown, Petrusville and Vanderkloof) was forced to implement a load shedding schedule for Vanderkloof.
There are two arrears in this case: The current electricity account that Vanderkloof residents do indeed pay, but that Renosterberg does not transfer to Eskom as well as the maximum consumption capacity that Renosterberg did not increase as Vanderkloof grew. Thus, power supply to Vanderkloof is capped at the lawfully paid capacity.
Meanwhile, Eskom also sent a notice to the Phokwane Municipality (Hartswater, Jan Kempdorp and Pampierstad) that load shedding will be locally implemented in the same way and for the very same reasons. According to all indications, there are very few Northern Cape municipalities that will not be affected by similar remedial actions.
The root cause of the problem is maladministration on municipal level. Administrative changes that are needed include installing prepaid meters that ensure that the money owed to Eskom is paid directly to the provider while distributors (thus far, these are the municipalities) only receive what is due to them. A portion of the money could also be channelled directly to Eskom as a means to collect outstanding debt.
If Eskom is willing to compromise, it could ease the collection of outstanding debt as well as issues that may arise in the future. But if the power supply is decreased or interrupted, it could lead to the collapse of the local economy. Ultimately it could mean that rural networks will be unutilised while additional capital will have to be spent in urban areas.
At present, local authorities have licences that allow them to purchase power from Eskom and then re-sell it to consumers. This forms an integral and vital part of the financial model for local government.
Municipalities that prove to be incompetent in this regard must forfeit their licences. Private institutions that supply power to towns must be established. The solution to this problem is definitely not to create even larger and clumsier municipalities.
The ANC's instinct seems to be to create a "larger capacity" by means of centralisation. And as a result, many once sustainable towns were incorporated into larger municipalities in 2000, but today these municipalities are not delivering the services that they ought to.
Despite the fact that there are many good plans that can be implemented, communities must prepare themselves to take the responsibility of power provision on themselves. The creation of smart networks that facilitate the generation, storage and distribution of power among local producer-consumers is becoming easier and cheaper.
It will, however, require communities that are committed, can do proper planning and that are willing to create institutions that fulfil the typical local government functions. As the government gradually collapses, civil institutions will take its place.
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