SA’s electricity reform is opening new markets for savvy entrepreneurs
When South Africa changes an energy policy, much of the public conversation understandably concentrates on the government, Eskom, electricity tariffs, investors and large infrastructure projects. But there is another question we should be asking.
South Africa's energy policy overhaul is unveiling fresh opportunities for enterprising individuals and businesses. While the public debate often centers on policy makers, Eskom, tariffs, and major infrastructure projects, there's another crucial angle to consider. Bertha Dlamini, founder of African Women in Energy and Power, suggests that policy shifts signal market evolution, presenting spaces for new businesses to thrive.
Under the Revised Electricity Pricing Policy, the electricity industry is being segmented into distinct segments: generation, transmission, distribution, trading, and retail. This restructuring introduces new interfaces where businesses can step in. Our preliminary assessment points to at least 18 different entrepreneurial avenues arising from this transformation.
These opportunities span various domains such as energy efficiency, solar PV installations, battery services, smart metering, data analytics, bill optimization, municipal electricity services, EV-charging infrastructure, and solar/battery storage system maintenance. There are also opportunities in embedded generation development, wheeling support, electricity aggregation, market data services, IPP supply-chain participation, transmission and distribution supply-chain services, community energy initiatives, and energy advisory businesses.
Many of these ventures are more accessible than one might think. A budding entrepreneur might not need a hefty R50 million to participate in energy. Instead, they could focus on providing services like managing smart meters, analyzing electricity consumption for small businesses, maintaining solar and battery installations, or offering vegetation management, logistics, security, environmental services, or drone inspections for renewable energy projects.
One of the most immediate prospects may lie in the realm of customer meters. As pricing becomes more reflective and transparent, gaining insight into electricity consumption can yield commercial advantages. For instance, a small manufacturing entity might not fully understand its peak demand or the efficiency of its equipment. An enterprising micro, small or medium enterprise (MSME) could analyze the customer's bill and load profile, install monitoring technology, pinpoint inefficiencies, and recommend interventions.
This could involve recurring revenues through monitoring subscriptions, maintenance contracts, energy-management fees, and potentially shared-savings models.
Municipalities also present a promising market. With cost-reflective tariffs necessitating reliable data, municipalities need assistance in tracking their customers, usage patterns, meter functionality, technical and non-technical losses, and billing accuracy. Opportunities in customer audits, meter verification, smart-meter installation, GIS services, data cleansing, revenue protection, network inspections, billing analytics, and loss-reduction services are ripe for MSME involvement.
For policymakers, the key is to ensure that electricity reform creates clear pathways for MSMEs to enter these emerging value chains. Policymakers should encourage the participation of capable micro, small, and medium enterprises in these new value chains, providing them with the technical skills, technology, and execution capacity needed to flourish.
Written by urgent.news from Daily Maverick's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
