What the Western Cape can and cannot do about electricity

What the Western Cape can and cannot do about electricity — in plain language

The Western Cape government and the City of Cape Town are both pursuing energy programmes aimed at reducing reliance on Eskom, but neither can set national electricity policy or simply exit the national grid. The documents below set out what each sphere of government is actually doing, and where the limits sit.

The national layer: tariffs and the grid

Electricity tariffs are determined nationally. According to a Western Cape Government statement of 17 September 2025, the province’s Integrated Energy and Water Council met on 15 September 2025 and expressed “deep concern” over an error by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) in determining electricity tariffs.

The statement says the error will result in tariffs rising by 8.76% in the next financial year instead of the 5.36% originally granted, and by 8.83% the year after compared with 6.19%. The council noted that NERSA is investigating the matter. The Western Cape Government said it had called on NERSA and Eskom to find ways to mitigate the impact on residents.

Nothing in these documents suggests a province can set its own national tariff, direct Eskom’s generation fleet, or leave the national grid. The levers described are provincial facilitation, municipal distribution and procurement within the national framework.

What the province is doing: the Western Cape Energy Resilience Programme

The same statement describes progress under the Western Cape Energy Resilience Programme (WCERP), which the council said is reducing the province’s dependence on Eskom. According to the provincial government, the programme’s reported outcomes to date include:

An estimated 819MW of rooftop solar installed in the province to date, which the province attributes to WCERP support for municipalities enabling rooftop photovoltaic installations and encouraging uptake by suppliers and consumers.
More than 90 000 load-shedding relief packs distributed to school learners and Western Cape Department of Social Development-funded facilities, among others.
Solar PV installations completed at 17 provincial buildings, with energy programmes introduced at 142 health and education facilities.

The WCERP is targeting 5 700MW of municipal and private generation by 2035. The province states it is “well on track” to meet that target.

Mr Alwie Lester, Special Adviser to the Premier on Energy, said most Western Cape municipalities are “far ahead of the rest of the country” in small-scale embedded generation (SSEG) readiness, with most local governments having adopted the SSEG framework developed by the provincial government. These are the province’s own characterisations of its programme.

On independent power producers, Lester said that up to and including bid round 6 of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP), close to 6 000MW of applications for IPP projects came from the Western Cape alone, not all of which were approved within REIPPPP. He said the balance is now moving to the private sector, and that if projects materialise the province could reach its 5 700MW target sooner than 2035. This is a statement of appetite for projects, not a confirmed build figure.

The statement also records a visit by Premier Alan Winde to the 36MW CPV1 solar project in Touwsrivier, developed by the Pele Energy Group. Construction began in 2013, the plant reached its commercial operating date in late 2014, and it has supplied power to the national grid since then.

What a metro with its own network can do

The City of Cape Town’s own page on independent power producers sets out its position. It defines an IPP as a private-sector power producer that owns and/or operates facilities to generate electricity for sale to a utility, central government buyer or end user, usually through long-term Power Purchase Agreements.

The City says procurement from IPPs forms a key part of its plan for energy security as outlined in its Energy Strategy for 2050, and that various procurement processes are under way for different renewable energy technologies, with more planned. It states that the introduction of private sector generation will contribute to diversification of supply, bring new skills and capital into the industry, and support competitive performance and pricing.

On its own projects, the City says it has developed a 7MW grid-connected solar PV installation in Atlantis, connected directly to the City’s internal electrical network, with a 5MW battery energy storage system to be installed. It says the feasibility stage for a solar PV plant at Paardevlei of between 30MW and 60MW has been completed, with funding options under consideration and execution expected to commence in 2027.

The City also notes that IPPs may include utility-scale facilities using solar or wind, as well as small-scale embedded generation systems that generate power for on-site use and may feed excess energy into the distribution or transmission grid.

Where the boundaries sit

Taken together, the documents describe three distinct roles. National bodies determine tariffs and regulate the sector. The province facilitates — supporting municipal SSEG frameworks, running the WCERP, and reporting installed capacity and targets. Municipalities with their own distribution networks, such as Cape Town, can procure from IPPs and develop their own generation projects within that framework.

What none of the documents show is a provincial ability to set national tariffs, direct Eskom’s operations, or detach from the national grid. The figures cited here are those published by the Western Cape Government and the City of Cape Town respectively, and the progress claims are the programme’s own.

Sources

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