The City of Cape Town has launched a petition to get more support for its plan to transfer Eskom-supplied areas to the city’s power supply grid.

Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says they were in an advanced stage of talks with Eskom to transfer its supply areas to the city, but then Eskom cancelled any further discussions, apparently stating that it was no longer in support of the idea.

Hill-Lewis suggests talks had been ongoing for several years, and says he had been at the point of preparing to appoint consultants to take the plan further.

“Right since the start of our local government term, we’ve held productive talks with former CEO Andre de Ruyter about transferring Eskom’s supply areas to the City. We had even progressed to monthly progress tracking meetings… All we needed was Eskom’s confirmation that we can go ahead.”

In a letter from Eskom, provided by Hill-Lewis, it says doing so would not be in the power utilities’ best interest. But Hill-Lewis argues that taking over Eskom supply areas is crucial for providing load-shedding protection and reliable electricity services.

“[The City] offers more reliable services and much better infrastructure maintenance, with a R4bn investment planned for our electricity grid over the next three years. We are also working to lessen reliance on Eskom power in favour of more affordable power sources over time.”

The City currently provides electricity to two-thirds of the metropole, with a third being powered by Eskom. It says the long-term strategy is to distribute electricity directly to all Cape Town customers, aligning with its Energy Strategy to transition from Eskom’s “unreliable, costly and fossil fuel based energy” to providing the complete opposite.

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