<\/p>\n
The\u00a0National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) will see some leadership changes following the resignation of its chair Thembani Bukula, who served his last day on 15 June.<\/p>\n
Bukula, whose position was part-time as he also served as CEO of the energy trader PowerX, confirmed to Moneyweb that he resigned to focus on his health.<\/p>\n
Read:
Nersa says its chair does not \u2018benefit\u2019 from higher electricity tariffs
Nersa\u2019s Nhlanhla Gumede suspended
DA asks Public Protector to investigate \u2018rot\u2019 at Nersa<\/p>\n
Minister of Electricity and Energy Kgosientsho Ramokgopa\u2019s office said Nersa deputy chair Ria Govender will, as determined by the Nersa Act, serve as chair until the position is filled.<\/p>\n
This comes as Ramokgopa has called for nominations for the position of full-time regulator member and CEO of Nersa.<\/p>\n
The position is currently held by Advocate Nomalanga Sithole, whose five-year term ends in August. This was her first term. Regulator members are allowed to serve a second term, should she be available and should the minister decide to reappoint her.<\/p>\n
Bukula, a qualified engineer who previously served as full-time regulator member for electricity, was appointed chair in 2022 and was also nearing the end of his term.<\/p>\n
ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n
CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
He led the nine-member Energy Regulator Board, which is responsible for regulating the electricity, piped-gas, and petroleum pipelines industries in South Africa.<\/p>\n
Challenging time<\/strong><\/p>\n Bukula\u2019s tenure as Nersa chair began shortly after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the Energy Action Plan and scrapped licensing rules for private power generators.<\/p>\n This sped up the growth of renewable energy and independent power producers, and changed the energy landscape in South Africa dramatically.<\/p>\n It also increased the workload on Nersa, which suddenly had to regulate a growing number of generators and traders and develop new rules as the liberalisation of the South African energy market picked up momentum.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Many of Nersa\u2019s decisions were challenged in court and mostly overturned during this period as its resources were not increased to match the heavier workload.<\/p>\n Listen\/read: Hasha Tlhotlhalemaje, former senior manager for regulation at Eskom, describes Bukula as a stalwart of the industry who will be sorely missed.<\/p>\n ADVERTISEMENT:<\/p>\n CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cHis wisdom and experience will be missed. He is really irreplaceable,\u201d she says. \u201cWe are sad to see him go and wish him well.\u201d<\/p>\n Vally Padayachee, an industry veteran and special advisor to the Association of Municipal Electricity Utilities (Ameu), says he has known Bukula and worked with him on a professional level over several decades.<\/p>\n \u201cBukula is a competent, reliable and ethical person who does not hold his punches but always acts in a professional manner,\u201d Padayachee told Moneyweb.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cHe was the right man for the job as the electricity industry evolved to a competitive market.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a challenging job where different interests have to be balanced and I don\u2019t think he always had enough support as Nersa remained under-resourced,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a pity that we are losing him at Nersa, but we thank him and wish him all the best.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n #Bukula #resigns #Nersa #chair<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The\u00a0National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) will see some leadership changes following the resignation of its chair Thembani Bukula, who served his last day on 15 June. Bukula, whose… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[11091,442,7496,6252],"class_list":["post-9036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investing","tag-bukula","tag-chair","tag-nersa","tag-resigns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
Scrutiny grows over cost of Nersa\u2019s electricity relief plan
Eskom extra R54bn from tariffs heads to court \u2013 again<\/p>\n\n