Business Unity South Africa (Busa) is mobilising a high-level team to pursue a “strategic national response” to the problems associated with South Africa’s electricity shortages, which came into sharp focus again on March 6, when Eskom resorted to 14 hours of load-shedding to stabilise the network.

Acting Busa CEO Cas Coovadia reports that a small team of senior business leaders will seek to engage with Eskom and government “at the right level, on the right issues”.

The crisis talks, which Busa expects should begin within weeks, will put “national interest first” by dealing decisively with the “hard issues” that have bedevilled the crisis ever since 2008.

These issues include whether or not tariffs are appropriately set to ensure Eskom’s sustainability and whether there are other ways to fund the utility. The structural issues surrounding the role of municipalities in the electricity supply industry, as well as whether the appropriate legislative and regulatory environment is in place to “keep the lights on” will also be on the agenda.

“In these more strategic, high-level discussions we would want to talk about Eskom’s sustainability – whether that comes from the fiscus to a certain extent, whether that comes from increased tariffs and what the increases should be,” Coovadia indicated after a recent meeting with Eskom executives. Efforts will also be made to shift the tone of the discussion from recrimination to cooperation.

The move is premised on a Busa analysis showing that critical decisions have either not been taken to deal with the crisis, or have been made, but have not been implemented.

To be sure, key decisions have indeed been made and solutions identified to address the shortfall that was always expected ahead of the introduction of new baseload capacity from Medupi and Kusile. These interventions are outlined in the 2010 Medium-Term Risk Mitigation (MTRM) plan, which has been only partially implemented, owing to a number of obstacles that have not been cleared.

What is arguably required are a series of decisions that could liberate the public and private financial resources required for implementation.

It is understood that Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba is canvassing these decisions within government and has committed to bringing the various components together so that the necessary funding can be sourced.

If the Busa initiative supports the unlocking of the MTRM plan, it will be worth the effort – particularly as the economic cost of unserved electricity is far higher than the cost associated with a number of the plan’s components.

However, society will remain rightfully sceptical until there is evidence of progress.