Energy Exchange of Southern Africa (EXSA), a power trader backed by Remgro, has applied for a licence to move electricity across borders.
Engie Energy Marketing South Africa has also applied for a new electricity trading licence. Energy regulator Nersa will hear both applications at a virtual public hearing on 7 December, according to a notice on its website.
EXSA wants an import-export licence covering “South Africa and Sadc”, the Southern African Development Community. Engie’s trading application covers the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, where Eskom supplies customers.
Energy minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said exports would only come once local demand was met. “Before we think of exporting the electrons, we must be satisfied that we are able to meet our own demand,” he said at Wits Business School last month.
Ramokgopa said connected neighbouring countries face a shortfall of about 6GW. South Africa has an average surplus of about 4GW, he said.
He also warned against rushing into a wholesale electricity market. “I do caution that the speed with which we enter that market must be measured,” he said.
French utility group Engie runs the Avon and Dedisa peaking plants. Together they can deliver 1GW to Eskom under 15-year agreements.
Dedisa is in the Eastern Cape and Avon is in KwaZulu-Natal. These are the two provinces named in the trading application.
Engie, then called GDF Suez, took a 38% stake in both projects. Legend Power Solutions holds 27%, Mitsui and Co holds 25% and The Peaker Trust holds 10%.
EXSA was founded in 2017. According to its website, Nersa granted it a licence in 2022 to trade electricity over the Eskom grid. Remgro sold a 25% stake in EXSA to Rand Merchant Bank in 2023.
EXSA would not be the first private trader allowed to move power across borders. Nersa gave GreenCo Power Services the country’s first private import-export licence in October 2024, Polity reported.
Enpower Trading received a licence covering Sadc in 2025, according to Green Building Africa.
The new applications come while the rules for power trading are still not settled. Eskom went to court to review five trading licences that Nersa granted.
Those licences went to Green Electron Market, CBI Electric Apollo, GreenCo Power Services, Discovery Green and Noa Group Trading. Eskom argued that they let new players avoid paying towards subsidies. EXSA’s licence was not one of them.
The case was put on hold earlier this year to give Nersa time to finish its trading rules, which are still pending.
In a joint statement in February, Eskom and the traders said this “does not constitute a withdrawal of the review application but rather a procedural stay”, African News Agency reported.
On the afternoon of the hearing, Nersa will also take comment on draft cost recovery rules for independent transmission providers. These are private companies meant to build and own new grid lines.
The first phase of that programme calls for 1,164km of new lines. On 1 October, national treasury and the department of electricity and energy moved the final request for proposals to the second quarter of 2027.
Business Leadership South Africa CEO Busi Mavuso warned that “on the current trajectory, the new grid infrastructure is unlikely to be operating by the end of the decade”.
Written comments on the transmission rules close on 2 December. The licence hearing runs from 9.30am to 1pm on Microsoft Teams. People who want to attend or make representations must register by 4.30pm on 30 November.
Source: this article is based on reporting by TechCentral. Image: TechCentral. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Technology desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Werner Jacobs covers technology for Tzaneen Voice. Werner reports on mobile networks, data prices, internet access, smartphones, apps, AI, cybersecurity and South African tech companies. Each story explains what a new product, price change or policy means for ordinary users in South Africa.