The National Transmission Company South Africa (NTCSA) reports that it will establish an internal, yet ring-fenced, market surveillance unit as a safeguard against any abuse of dominance within the yet-to-be-launched South African Wholesale Electricity Market (SAWEM).

SAWEM is scheduled to begin operating in April 2027, with Eskom Generation set to be by far the dominant market participant at its launch.

Some 30 Eskom Generation power stations are already actively trading on the platform, with Eskom Distribution as the offtaker.

But the market’s formal launch was delayed from April 2026 to provide time for the finalisation of the market code, as well as other regulatory requirements, such as the vesting contracts.

Speaking during a Creamer Media webinar, NTCSA’s Andrew Etzinger said that the creation of market-surveillance capacity was a condition set for NTCSA by the regulator when it approved its Market Operator licence.

However, he indicated that he was in favour of such capacity also being developed outside of NTCSA to add additional safeguards and to address concerns raised over NTCSA playing the role ahead of its unbundling from Eskom Holdings.

Besides the National Energy Regulator of South Africa, Etzinger said it might also be desirable for the Competition Commission to have access to the market information to enable it to analyse whether any abuse of dominance was taking place.

He said that within the Southern African Power Pool, the role was currently played by a single individual working behind a locked office door in Harare, Zimbabwe, who treated the information from his trading-desk colleagues with deep suspicion.

Similar qualities would be required within the unit being set up at the NTCSA, which envisaged the establishment of a “properly capacitated” team.

Etzinger was of the view that, even if similar capacity was developed externally, it would be in the interests of the Market Operator to have effective surveillance capacity able to blow the whistle on any signs of abuse.

Meanwhile, Etzinger also reported that various other activities were under way to establish the Market Operator in anticipation of SAWEM’s launch, and while Nersa finalised the various regulatory mechanisms required for its operation.

“The system development itself for the platform is ongoing. We've got a whole bunch of IT and cybersecurity and process experts working very hard to get the platform up and running, and we are just about there,” he reported.

The Creamer Media webinar was facilitated by Brian Day of 2Day Innovation and addressed by NTCSA’s Andrew Etzinger, SAPVIA’s Dr Rethabile Melamu, NOA’s Robyn Reinhardt, Partners in Performance’s Alastair Muller, and the Energy Council of South Africa’s Cornel Claassen. It can be viewed on Creamer Media’s YouTube channel. Look out for additional reporting in the Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine.