Energy Efficiency: New Strategies for Improving South African Energy Laws

South Africa’s energy laws until 2008 have been developed in the context of a country heavily dependent on fossil-based primary sources of energy. Government introduced various policy and other regulatory measures to ensure the efficient use of energy. The initial energy efficiency measures were introduced due to the rising demand for energy. They were driven by an economic rather than by an environmental need. Policy developments in the energy sector do, however, indicate that the government and regulators are fully aware of the need to develop appropriate legal and policy frameworks for energy efficiency. This is evidenced by the White Paper on South Africa’s Energy Policy of 1998, the White Paper on Renewable Energy of 2003, and the recent White Paper on Climate Change Response 2011. The White Paper on Climate Change Response stresses the fact that behavioural change need to be necessary and that incentives and disincentives will be needed to “support the transition to a low carbon society and economy, (while) (a)cknowledging that, with the energy intensive nature of the South African economy, the mitigation of greenhouse gases is generally not going to be easy or cheap and that Government must support and facilitate the mitigation plans of, in particular, the energy, transport and industrial sectors.” Various measures have been introduced. In 2010 the Department of Energy published a Policy to support Energy Efficiency and Demand Side Management. The policy included a standard offer incentive scheme. Various renewable energy strategies have also been proposed and are in the process of being implemented. Various arguments are raised in favour and against the use of renewable energy. The government expedited the approval of wind and solar farms in the Northern and Western Cape, on the one hand but on the other also announced the expansion of its coal fired power plants and the introduction of nuclear energy. The National Energy Regulator may set energy efficiency standards as conditions in licence requirements in terms of the Electricity Regulation Act 4 of 2006. The Minister of Energy published a Determination Regarding the Integrated Resource Plan and New Generation Capacity in 2010 in which she determined that new generation capacity is required. Various projects are listed. She also outlines the framework for the implementation of projects dealing with energy efficiency and demand side management. In addition to this the minister may also set standards relating to health, safety and the environment and their incorporation into licences or national norms and standards. She has not done so yet. The cost of the introduction of such norms and standards may have prevented her from doing so until now. In July 2011 a new voluntary instrument SANS50001 (based on ISO50001) was introduced and approved. The Standard enables “organisations to establish the systems and processes necessary to improve energy performance, including energy efficiency, use and consumption. Implementation of this International Standard is intended to lead to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and other related environmental impacts and energy cost through systematic management of energy.” The standard could be applied in both the public and private sector. The standard may be used as an incentive for the private (and public sector) to voluntary measure their own energy output and to introduce technology that would ensure energy efficiency. Although there are policies and other measures in place, they are not synchronized and seem to be formulated in a piece meal fashion. The aim of this paper is to discuss the question whether the various South African policies and regulatory measures addressing energy efficiency are adequate in relation to environmental issues. The paper will also investigate the possible introduction of voluntary (or compulsory) energy management systems as incentives to improve the regulatory framework for energy efficiency in South Africa