- The City of Johannesburg signs PPA to increase electricity supply
- The PPA is expected to increase supply by 100MW
The Premier of Gauteng, David Makhura, alongside the Mayor of Johannesburg Mpho Moerane, has signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) to increase electricity supply to the city-owned power utility, City Power. The city signed the two-year PPA with Independent Power Producer (IPP) Kelvin Power Station to supply 100MW, raising the electricity capacity to 180MW from 80MW.
“I am very happy that Johannesburg has taken a concrete step to ensure that it enhances its own capacity to guarantee the supply of energy to the residents of the city. I think this is a tremendous achievement.” Makhura said.
“What Johannesburg is doing is something we want to do in the whole province. Reliable power supply and reliable supply of clean water. Those two are fundamental basics without which you can’t do anything. What distinguishes us from significant progress is access to those two clean basic services, power and water,” he added.
“Intermittent power supply interruptions have destroyed businesses and undermined the position of the city as an economic entry of our province. It is extremely important that we get Kelvin to go to the 300MW [of power supply],” Makhura further stated.
The Premier urged residents of the city to ensure the timely payment of electricity bills. “I know that the big worry is that the people don’t pay… but they must have prepaid electricity. People must pay for electricity as per the consumption. We can’t have something called a flat rate. People must pay as per consumption,” he said.