Chapter 6: Transition pathways and typologies in the Global South
6.2. Results
6.2.1. Historical configuration and reconfigurations in Cape Town
There have been a number of distinct periods in which widespread change in the City of CT’s electricity regime occurred. Four periods are distinguishable in terms of unique regime characteristics. These periods are discussed in relation to their main features or characteristics;
interactions between the state and private sector (niche firms); regime values that underpinned these periods; stakeholders, factors and processes that resulted in reconfigurations; the interest groups that benefited from particular configurations; and regulatory enforcement. These provide compelling cases in which to extrapolate the conditions that make change in socio-technical regimes possible.
a) The initial configuration (1879 - 1912)
An invaluable record for understanding the initial configuration of the City’s electricity regime is provided by Palser (1995) in a historical account of the development of the electricity supply industry in Cape Town called ‘Lighting up the Fairest Cape’. Overall, the initial configuration of Cape Town’s electricity regime can be characterised by experimentation. Interactions between the state and ‘niche firms’ were fluid during this time whereby a mix of municipal, private and hybrid public- private arrangements participated in electricity generation and distribution. For example, the first electric lights in Cape Town were installed through an agreement between the City70 and a private
70 Under the government of the Cape Colony.
134 enterprise71 to fit, maintain and guarantee the electric lights. This is an example of a rudimentary performance contract. Notably, from the completion of the first private power station72 until the turn of the century, electricity was supplied and distributed by a mishmash of private and municipal entities and public-private partnerships.
During this period the City had a central role to play in incubating and mainstreaming electricity
‘niches’ or innovations of the time. For instance, the City led the conversion (or transition) from direct current machines73 to alternating current machines74 (Palser, 1995). This modified the entire electricity sector in Cape Town by mainstreaming the use of alternators. Notably, the invention of the steam turbine in 1892, alongside the adoption of alternators, resulted in a turbo-alternator set which revolutionised electricity generation. This ‘revolution’ was recognised by the City and it promptly adopted steam turbine technology in all new power stations and extensions. This ‘early adoption’ facilitated the future ‘lock-in’ of steam-turbine technology. Thus, the initial configuration of the City’s electricity regime emerged through collaborative processes between technology developers, the private sector and local government.
During this period the electricity industry in Cape Town was regulated by a range of diverse and sometimes conflicting decrees, edicts and contracts. Despite regulatory uncertainty, these rules provided scope for innovation and experimentation. However, the values that underpinned this initial regime configuration were knotty. Although this configuration was shaped through relatively open values in terms of flexibility and collaboration, it established a segregated, exclusionary and discriminatory service delivery structure that lasted a century (Eberhard, 2010). Thus, the only interest groups that benefited from this structure were corporates, the state and citizens of the Cape Colony, to the exclusion and detriment of all others.
b) Reconfiguration for control and segregation (1912-1994)
The main dynamic that unravelled the above configuration (1879-1912) was the formation of the Union of South Africa (1910) and the rise of the apartheid government that reconfigured infrastructure systems from the top-down. The main characteristics of this period in relation to the electricity regime were centralisation and monopolisation (Eberhard, 2010). The interactions between the state and niches during this period were likewise characterised by consolidation of power. In Cape Town the above-mentioned multiplicity of municipal, private and hybrid distributors
71 Brush Electric Light and Power Company.
72 1892
73 Dynamos
74 Alternators
135 began being replaced by a centralised (dominant) Electricity Supply Commission [later became Eskom] and a consolidation of City of Cape Town -owned stations.
In 1913 the City of CT council began acquiring generation and distribution assets of various private companies and successively dismantling private power stations.75 Parallel, between 1920 and 1922 the Union Government began a process of centralising the entire electricity industry. The Electricity Act, 1922 formally established the Electricity Supply Commission (ESC) and provided it with almost complete control over electricity generation and distribution throughout South Africa including control over all existing generation and distribution facilities.
Thereinafter, the City had marginal control, independence and autonomy related to electricity supply, which became concentrated at the national level. Shortly after the establishment of Eskom, several Cape Town power stations were decommissioned and shut down. From then on municipalities had to apply for licensing agreements to continue with existing generation and distribution facilities. Almost all future generation facilities in Cape Town were developed and financed solely by Eskom (Palser, 2010).
By the 1960s Eskom instructed that all future electricity supply to Cape Town would be generated in the Limpopo and Mpumalanga power generation region. This initiated the process of connecting Cape Town through an extensive transmission system that cut across South Africa. By the end of 1970s Eskom had fully established and connected the national transmission grid. This resulted in Cape Town being completely reliant on Eskom power and being locked into a mid-term future of centralised coal-fired electricity generation.
It is unmistakable that the values that underpinned this regime configuration mirrored the values of apartheid including segregation, control, domination, coercion and brutality. According to Eberhard (2010) apartheid energy policy was informed by two main threads; the provision of cheap energy for mining and primary industry and energy security for the apartheid state. Thus, the main interest groups that benefited from this configuration were corporate interests and the state.
c) Reconfiguration for development and justice (1994 onwards)
The predominant dynamic resulting in the collapse of the above configuration was the fall of apartheid. In brief, the restructuring of the City’s electricity regime was caused by both bottom-up (political activism) and top-down (democratic change) pressures. Büscher et al. (2009) highlight that political dissent towards state-owned enterprises, notably infrastructure regimes, became highly visible in the 1980s alongside broad opposition and political pressure against apartheid. According
75 Parallel to the promulgation of various pieces of oppressive apartheid regulation such as the Natives Land Act, 1913
136 to Krupa and Burch (2011) criticism towards Eskom’s poor financial management preceded broader dissent against the gross injustice that the majority of South African’s lacked access to basic electricity services.
Equally, in Cape Town, a network of activists, researchers and NGOs including the Development Action Group (DAG), the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA) and the Energy and Development Research Centre (EDRC) were engaged in condemning the incumbent electricity regime on the grounds of mass injustice (DAG, 2012). The process of reconfiguration of the City of CT’s electricity regime thus mirrored the monumental social, political, legal, cultural and economic shift that occurred during South Africa’s democratic revolution.
Following the collapse of apartheid and its associated electricity regime, sweeping reform occurred in the energy sector underpinned by vastly different value systems. As highlighted by Prasad (2008) the White Paper on Energy Policy (DME, 1998) sought to redress historical inequalities by pursuing universal access to energy and ensuring accessible, affordable and reliable energy for the poor.
Thus, development, poverty alleviation, redistribution and universal access to affordable electricity and energy services henceforth underpinned energy policy in South Africa.
These values were entrenched in a suite of regulatory instruments, such as the Integrated National Electrification Programme (DOE, 2005); the Free Basic Electricity Policy (DME, 2003b); and the Electricity Pricing Policy (DME, 2004). Local government was delegated widespread duties in executing these policies and programmes. This provided the political and regulatory framework (landscape pressure) for the City to restructure its electricity regime and to henceforth prioritise energy poverty alleviation, electrification and energy service provision76. Correspondingly, in 2000 the Unicity was established after almost a decade of local government restructuring. This resulted in the consolidation and rationalisation of five separate electricity departments (CCT, 2010c). The major underlying rationale for restructuring local government, the City of CT included, was the extension of infrastructure services to the previously disadvantaged (CCT, 2009c).
Thus, the intended beneficiaries of this reconfiguration were citizens in general and the poor and marginalised in particular. Nevertheless, several features of the previous electricity configuration were retained, in some form, in the new regime structure, including centralisation, reliance on fossil fuels, spatial disconnects between generation and consumption and the sustenance of the mineral- energy complex.
76 See Section 5.2.4
137
d) Reconfiguration for environmental sustainability (1998 onwards)
As shown in the preceding chapter, the City is currently in the process of reconfiguring its electricity regime based on environmental values). A diverse set of stakeholders have facilitated this process.
In particular, a loose network77 of NGOs, researchers and City pioneers lobbied for ‘over a decade for a more low carbon, efficient and renewable urban electricity system’ (Interview 5. 11 April 2012). These organisations were ‘central in bringing energy security and climate change to the attention of City politicians and top management’ (Interview 23. 26 August 2012). It is evident that NGOs and researchers played an important role as ‘intermediaries’ (Moss et al., 2010) between separate City departments, between officials and politicians and across spheres of government. In this regard the Head of Energy and Climate Change said:
In this space the values of a mediator is [sic] crucial. In the ECAP process, Sustainable Energy Africa played a critical mediation role between the University and the City and between ERMD and the Electricity Department (Interview 23. 26 August 2012).
Involvement in incubation programmes has also been central to this process. In particular, the City’s participation in the DANIDA-funded Sustainable Energy for Environment and Development (SEED) Programme78 played an influential role in kick-starting sustainable energy planning. According to a member of Sustainable Energy Africa involved in SEED, the City of CT was the most ‘successful municipality in the programme due to the presence of a champion’ (Interview 5. 11 April 2012).
This culminated in a City Energy Strategies Conference79 which eventually led to the adoption of the Energy and Climate Strategy (CCT, 2006d).
By 2008 the City had recognised the importance of energy security and climate mitigation evident by its inclusion in the Integrated Development Plan (CCT, 2009c). However, in the same year Cape Town experienced major rolling black-outs and load-shedding as a result of a national supply crisis.
In response the City Mayor committed, based on bottom-up pressure, to set up a dedicated institutional structure to implement the Energy and Climate Strategy, with a focus on energy security (CCT, 2009a). This led to the establishment of an Energy Committee80, an EMT Sub- committee on Energy and Climate81 and three administrative work streams to facilitate transversal implementation of the Strategy (CCT, 2010a). According to the Head of Energy and Climate Change these structures placed energy and climate directly on Council’s agenda and provided ERMD with an opportunity to regularly influence politicians (Interview 23. 26 August 2012).
77 See Section 6.2.4
78 1998-2006
79 Hosted in 2000
80 Political
81 Administrative
138 The Energy Committee subsequently instructed the development of the ECAP to operationalise the Strategy (CCT, 2010a). This resulted in a process of identifying ‘reconfiguration’ objectives and targets, consolidating and up-scaling initiatives that were already being implemented and launching new projects and programmes. The ECAP process thus provided a tool to mobilise and coordinate resources.
Overall, collaboration between NGOs, the research community and City of CT officials has resulted in raising awareness (articulation of selection pressures), fostering knowledge, the development of policy to re-orient the City’s electricity regime and developing institutional structures and capacity for managing such a reconfiguration process (CCT, 2011b).
Notably, since 2012 Eskom has confronted a major financial and supply crisis characterised by periods of rolling black outs and load shedding associated with insufficient long-term planning, poor financial management and rising debt (Burton and Winkler, 2014). This has resulted in a re- negotiation of regulation and power dynamics between national government and the City in relation to energy autonomy82. However, it is only since the risk of revenue loss has become visible that the Utilities and Finance Directorates’ have entertained the possibility of alternative socio- technical configurations (Interview 16. 16 September 2013). Thus, as a result of threats to the City’s core business model, radically different utility and revenue models are being openly considered and debated. This openness for alternatives is evident in a several engagements between the Electricity Department, ERMD and Sustainable Energy Africa (Meeting 81. Electricity Department. 05 July 2013). Thus, the risk of regime collapse has opened up space for potential alternative configurations to take root.