Published: 3 September 2026
Six months on: how is South Africa’s electricity reform progressing?
NOA actively drove and contributed to the South African Electricity Association’s Policy to Power roadmap. The first six-month tracker shows movement, but two of the ten reforms haven’t moved at all.
In February 2026, the South African Electricity Traders Association (SAETA), of which NOA is a member, published Policy to Power: 10 Actions to Deliver Green, Accessible and Secure Electricity, setting out the minimum decisions needed to move South Africa from a single-buyer monopoly to a functioning multi-market system. SAETA has now released its first six-month update, tracking progress against each of the ten actions.
The headline: there’s been progress on eight of the ten actions, though mostly slow. Two have seen no movement at all, reform of the electricity distribution industry and enabling cross-border electricity trade, and municipal debt tied to electricity distribution has grown to R119 billion in the meantime.
Some of the meaningful steps: the Department of Electricity and Energy gazetted a draft Electricity Sector Market Transformation position paper on 21 August 2026, the precursor to a Cabinet-endorsed reform roadmap. A revised draft Electricity Pricing Policy followed on 28 August, now open for public comment. President Cyril Ramaphosa endorsed the Eskom Restructuring Task Team’s first-phase report in July, confirming that transmission assets can be unbundled from Eskom, with an implementation plan due within three months.
The rules that will actually let a competitive market function, Nersa’s market code and the bilateral trading rules, are behind schedule. Consultation on the trading rules has moved from August to September, with finalisation now expected by the end of October. The market code deadline has slipped from August to October too.
Khaya Mbatha, SAETA’s chairperson, welcomed the position paper as a first step, but was clear the harder work is still ahead: “Where some reforms have stalled, such as Electricity Distribution Industry interventions and transmission rollout, it is encouraging to note that these are likely to gain momentum in coming months, as they are given priority by the Eskom Restructuring Task Team.”
SAETA says the next phase needs coordinated delivery: a clear reform roadmap, stronger institutions, tariff reform, Eskom’s unbundling and faster grid expansion. NOA will keep tracking and influencing progress alongside SAETA, because well-sequenced reform means faster access to reliable, competitively priced energy for the customers we serve.
Read the press release issued by SAETA.
