Job-figure fantasies drain the power from national electricity plan hearings. An important issue at the public hearings on draft Integrated Resource Plan 2018 was the use of questionable figures in presentations. Regardless of who is represented, or whether they stand to benefit financially, it is a big problem if unsubstantiated and unreferenced figures are presented. This is also why it must be challenged.
Over the first two days of the public hearings on the draft Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2018 — the national plan for electricity infrastructure development — the Portfolio Committee on Energy heard presentations from a variety of stakeholders.
Unfortunately, the process — which promised to be a forum for engagement between the portfolio committee and civil society — did not extend beyond the presentations simply being made by stakeholders and heard by the panel.
While it was ostensibly a process for interaction with the public, not a single question was asked in the allocated Q&A sessions.
It seemed that the limited number of committee members who did attend, with representatives from the Department of Energy working on the IRP, had no interest in interrogating what was presented — specifically numbers presented as “facts” by various stakeholders.
The Minister of Energy, Jeff Radebe, was noticeably absent and bar a few comments from the portfolio committee chairman, it was a one-way street.
This is the first time in many years that the Energy Committee has held public hearings and, frankly, we expected more. The Energy Governance South Africa (EGSA) network consists of more than 80 concerned individuals and organisations dedicated to promoting good governance in the energy sector in South Africa. We may ask what the point of the hearings were, if no interaction on the material presented was ever intended.
Read the full Daily Maverick article here.
By Richard Halsey, Project 90 by 2030
