Regulator notes energy licensing and exemption notice

© Warakorn Harnprasop – 123RF.com

In a statement on Tuesday, 19 Decemeber 2017, the regulator said it had noted the gazette published by the Department of Energy in the 10 November gazette.

The gazette, signed by former Energy Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi–Ngubane, states that under the Electricity Regulation Act, a person who operates a generation facility contemplated in items of Schedule 2; or a person who performs the activities of a reseller as contemplated item 2.8 of the Schedule, must register with the regulator.

In its statement the regulator said it is in the process of finalising the draft small-scale embedded generation (SSEG) rules, which were drafted in 2015, but put on hold until the publication of the Licensing Exemption and Registration Notice.

“Nersa will issue the draft rules for public comments as soon as its internal governance processes have been finalised. The draft rules would only apply to SSEGs with the installed capacity of no more than 1 MW connected to the national grid as referred to in sections 2.1 and 2.2 of the Notice. The SSEG rules will mainly focus on the registration and connection process, tariff structures and reporting requirements,” said Nersa.

Meanwhile, the regulatory rules for small-scale embedded generation will be published after stakeholders have been consulted and Nersa has made its decision.

Applications for the registration of SSEGs would only be considered after the publication of the rules.

“NERSA will also start the process to develop regulatory rules for the registration of all other categories of facilities referred to in the Notice in due course,” it said.

The gazette can be accessed here.