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2 December 2008

Programme director
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

Dear colleagues and friends

Let me start by welcoming and thanking all the stakeholders who have come to this important event. Business, labour, community, every one of the main groupings in civil society and the economy have an important role to play in helping to manage our use of electricity.

Let me also welcome and thank our energy champions. We recognise their willingness to take a leading role around the saving of electricity in their organisations, sectors and communities, in the in true spirit of solidarity and ubuntu.

I also want to welcome the representatives of Eskom. We know how hard they have been working to fix the challenges we face around electricity. We also know that they need the support of all of us in order to succeed.

Finally, I want to welcome the representatives of the media who are here. You are critical partners in this communications effort. This is one main reason why democracies need a free press: so that we can all communicate honestly and openly about the challenges we face, and the need to work together to overcome them.

Dear friends,

We have all heard from major stakeholders about their commitments to addressing the national project around electricity. All of us now realise that we must act together to reduce our unnecessary and inefficient use of energy, which is indeed a lifeblood for our society and our economy.

Now we need to see real action to take those commitments forward, based on the recognition that each of us must act collectively and individually to manage the electricity situation.

We are here because all of us agree on the critical and urgent need to increase savings of electricity. We have also recognised that the only immediate way we can achieve that aim is through simple behavioural changes, so that we stop unnecessary use, even waste, of this precious resource.

The reason this task has to be intensified even more at this juncture is because Eskom has to carry out maintenance in January. Summer is the only time that maintenance is possible, because in cold weather we cannot take plants out of production in order to service them. Starting in January, then, we have to work together to save electricity.

Otherwise we would place an intolerable strain on the electricity system, with negative consequences for the economy and for our lives at home and in our communities.

We could, of course, agree to raise the cost of electricity to the point where no one could afford to waste it. We have avoided this solution because it would place severe burdens on consumers and on the economy. We have to raise tariffs substantially, as agreed at the Electricity Summit in June. But we are committed to gradual and systematic increases, rather than once-off hikes. The only way to make this strategy possible, however, is for all of us to work together to conserve electricity.

Above all, right now, we must all change our habits in using electricity, for the good of our families, our communities, and the nation. We need to develop new habits: to turn out lights and appliances when we aren’t using them, including turning off geysers during the day.

To minimise the use of heating and cooling equipment. To avoid using electricity when we don't need to for instance, by using pool motors for only two hours a day, or by putting on a jersey instead of turning on the space heater.

Businesses face particular challenges. They can do some of the same things to reduce electricity use, as we have heard from their representatives. In particular, the retailers and office blocks can turn off the lights, turn down the air conditioning and manage refrigeration more efficiently.

In the longer term, we also rely on them to introduce electricity-saving equipment and processes in production and support co-generation of electricity where they can. And we also expect to see increased local development and production of green technologies.

Government must also play its part, of course. We have started with our own buildings. We have refitted 4 000 buildings, at a savings of R56 million a year in electricity costs. We will continue until every government facility is electricity efficient.

We also are committed to helping our social partners in their efforts. For businesses, we are providing free technical support to identify ways to save electricity. We are also exploring tax incentives for more energy-efficient production. For households, we have provided, through Eskom, a subsidy for solar water heaters. We have also begun the distribution tens of thousands of energy-efficient light bulbs, in collaboration with the municipalities.

As I noted earlier, we are also trying to re-shape electricity tariffs to encourage more efficient electricity use. Core to that effort is that, in the long run, the tariff for electricity must equal its cost to society, including the cost of new investments. We are committed, however, to ensuring that poor households continue to get affordable electricity. That is an important expression of solidarity in the face of this challenge.

We have agreed that we must phase in cost-reflective tariffs overall, in order to avoid major shocks to the economy and households. But we are moving more quickly through the Power Conservation Programme to provide a price incentive for energy savings. By the middle of next year, we should have a system in place whereby companies that cannot demonstrate efficient electricity use pay more. We are engaging directly with organised business, through BUSA, to decide how to assess whether a company is using electricity efficiently. We thank both BUSA and Eskom for their willingness to co-operate in this area.

In the long run, government and Eskom have committed to major investments in new electricity plants. We are also developing tariffs and packages to encourage more private supply of electricity. Finally, we are working on programmes to support the production of green equipment and renewable energy sources, and to phase in standards for energy efficient buildings.

A final challenge for government is to work with the municipalities to improve distribution networks. As you know, these networks are aging, and have in the past few months caused several black outs even though supply overall has been adequate. Together with EDI Holdings and Salga, we are investigating ways to fast-track maintenance, starting with the cities hosting the 2010 events.

But we are not here to find out what government is doing. We are here to pledge, collectively, to do what we can because we understand the benefits to ourselves and to the nation.

A particular benefit for households and benefits is that they will save a lot on electricity bills. We know that tariffs have gone up substantially in the past year, and they will continue to rise quite rapidly for the next four years, as agreed at the Electricity Summit held this year. If we start developing saving habits today, we will find we are saving more and more in the future.

A second benefit is that Eskom will be able to undertake the planned maintenance of its plants, without risking destabilising the system in the coming months.

And the third benefit, perhaps the most important in the long run, is that we will be contributing to a more sustainable economy and society. Saving electricity is critical in the long run to save our planet.

We know we can succeed in the tasks we have set ourselves, if we work together; if we continue to show solidarity across our society; and if we engage actively where we live, where we work, and wherever we are, in order to ensure that everyone in South Africa is aware of the need to save electricity, and takes action.

Lets all make Every Watt Count!

Issued by: The Presidency
2 December 2008