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SOUTHERN African Development Community (Sadc) energy ministers have called on member countries to produce roadmaps for transitioning their electricity supply industries towards cost-reflective tariffs by 2019 in an effort to improve the sustainability of the sector and create the basis for greater investment in new generation capacity by state utilities and independent power producers (IPPs).

Only Namibia and Tanzania in the 15-country regional bloc had successfully achieved cost-reflectivity, despite an earlier aspiration for all member States to meet the objective by 2013.

Sadc secretariat infrastructure and services director Remmy Makumbe said it was still possible that not all countries would meet the new deadline, owing to the fact that the transition would be politically fraught and “painful”, particularly because many citizens could still not afford economic energy prices.

Nevertheless, ministers who gathered for the 34th meeting of Sadc energy ministers in Johannesburg last week reaffirmed their commitment to the goal, which was viewed as critical to improving the sustainability of utilities, reducing costly subsidies and a prerequisite for IPP investment. Sadc still had an electricity supply shortfall of around 8,200MW.

But Zimbabwe Energy and Power Development Minister Samuel Undenge, the current chairperson of the Sadc energy ministers group, said some 24,000MW was currently being added, which should ensure regional “sufficiency” by 2019.

The figure excluded the 4,800MW that could be derived from Inga 3, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which was viewed as the precursor to a far larger hydropower development on the Congo river, which was estimated to have an ultimate capacity of over 40,000MW. The Inga project emerged as a key feature of the Johannesburg meeting, with South Africa reportedly calling for greater participation in the development of the project from other Sadc countries.

South Africa and the DRC signed the bilateral Grand Inga Hydropower Project Treaty in 2013 and preparations were said to be advancing to ensure the foundations were laid for project implementation. – Miningweekly