{"id":652712,"date":"2026-06-11T11:59:57","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T09:59:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=652712"},"modified":"2026-06-11T12:00:45","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T10:00:45","slug":"major-south-african-companies-including-a-top-university-kissing-eskom-goodbye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/energy\/652712-major-south-african-companies-including-a-top-university-kissing-eskom-goodbye.html","title":{"rendered":"Major South African companies, including a top university, kissing Eskom goodbye"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The University of Cape Town has joined other major companies and institutions across South Africa in shifting their reliance from Eskom\u2019s power grid to private renewable energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A combination of rapidly rising electricity prices and declining reliability has driven major retailers and mining giants away from the state utility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Competition Commission of South Africa revealed in April that households in the country were spending 85% more on electricity<\/a> than they were six years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data from the commission\u2019s latest cost-of-living report showed skyrocketing electricity prices from Eskom, the state-owned and largest power generator in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) approved an additional average increase in electricity prices of 8.76% for customers supplied directly by Eskom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe new tariffs will apply from 1 April 2026 for Eskom direct customers. Municipal bulk purchasers will implement their tariff increases, averaging 9.01%, from 1 July 2026,\u201d Eskom said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It added that the tariff increase was aimed at supporting Eskom\u2019s ability to provide a stable and reliable electricity supply to households and businesses in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Companies have taken note of the steep increases and are investing in renewable energy, either of their own infrastructure or from private providers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January, retail giant Shoprite announced it had installed 100 solar photovoltaic (PV) systems<\/a> across its brick-and-mortar footprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group owns brands such as Checkers, Shoprite, Usave, OK, and Medirite, and said it had an installed solar capacity of over 43,300kWp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By January, Shoprite reported that its solar portfolio was among the largest of any South African private company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mining giant Sibanye-Stillwater revealed plans to build a 50MW PV plant to supply power to its Kloof mine in Gauteng. Eskom immediately sought to block this plan, citing distribution concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to court documents<\/a>, Eskom stood to lose around R57 million per year if the mine, one of the largest gold operations in South Africa, went off-grid and relied on its own power supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The University of Cape Town signs landmark private power agreement<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Andre Nepgen, CEO of Discovery Green<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The University of Cape Town (UCT) announced in June that it signed a long-term renewable electricity supply agreement with Discovery Green, a licensed energy trader in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It said that the agreement represented the first long-term power purchase agreement between an energy trader and a public university in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the agreement, Discovery Green will convert 70% to 90% of the electricity consumption of UCT\u2019s main and health sciences campuses to renewable energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is expected to reduce the university\u2019s carbon emissions by an estimated 33,200 tonnes of CO\u2082 equivalent each year,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UCT said that it signed a 10-year contract with Discovery Green, with supply set to begin in the third quarter of 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It said that supply will be provided by Amplu Energy, a joint venture between Discovery Green and energy giant Sasol, established in April 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy replacing the majority of electricity demand across these campuses, the agreement makes a material contribution to UCT\u2019s climate and sustainability objectives,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt supports the reduction of Scope 2 emissions associated with electricity consumption and aligns with the university\u2019s long-term environmental sustainability strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andre Nepgen, CEO of Discovery Green, said that South African organisations are facing an increasingly complex energy environment with rising costs and electricity supply constraints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the shift to private renewable energy is becoming essential, especially as many organisations also seek to reduce their carbon footprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe agreement demonstrates how public institutions can use long-term renewable energy procurement to address energy constraints, cost volatility and decarbonisation objectives,\u201d UCT said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since UCT has limited roof space for solar PV, thanks to its older buildings, it will receive renewable private electricity from various solar and wind farms via Discovery Green\u2019s wheeling agreements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The University of Cape Town has signed a landmark private power agreement to begin its shift away reliance on Eskom’s increasingly costly electricity supply. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341213,"featured_media":652714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27995],"tags":[24178,95437,86983,181,1573,12679,100263,39358,36632,1301],"class_list":["post-652712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-checkers","tag-discovery-green","tag-electricity-wheeling","tag-eskom","tag-renewable-energy","tag-shoprite","tag-sibanye-stillwater-2","tag-solar-pv","tag-uct","tag-university-of-cape-town"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652712"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652712"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":652781,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652712\/revisions\/652781"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/652714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}