Engie Energy Marketing South Africa and Remgro-backed trader Energy Exchange of Southern Africa (EXSA) are seeking new electricity licences, one to trade power and the other to move it across the region’s borders.
Energy regulator Nersa will hear both applications at a virtual public hearing on 7 December, according to a notice on its website.
Engie Energy Marketing South Africa has applied for an electricity trading licence covering the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, where customers are supplied by Eskom. EXSA wants an import-export licence covering “South Africa and Sadc”, the Southern African Development Community.
French utility group Engie operates the Avon and Dedisa peaking plants, which together can deliver 1GW to Eskom under 15-year agreements. Dedisa is in the Eastern Cape and Avon in KwaZulu-Natal, the two provinces named in the trading application. Engie, then GDF Suez, took a 38% stake in both projects, alongside Legend Power Solutions (27%), Mitsui & Co (25%) and The Peaker Trust (10%).
EXSA was founded in 2017. Remgro sold a 25% stake to Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) in 2023, and EXSA was granted a Nersa licence in 2022 to trade electricity over the Eskom grid, according to its website.
Before we think of exporting the electrons, we must be satisfied that we are able to meet our own demand.
Energy minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa
EXSA would not be the first private trader licensed to move power across borders. Nersa granted GreenCo Power Services the country’s first private import-export licence in October 2024, Polity reported, and Enpower Trading received one covering Sadc in 2025, according to Green Building Africa.
At Wits Business School last month, energy minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said that connected neighbours face a deficit of about 6GW, while South Africa has an average surplus of about 4GW. But exports would come only once local demand and headroom for growth were secured. “Before we think of exporting the electrons, we must be satisfied that we are able to meet our own demand,” he said.
He also warned against rushing into a wholesale market. “I do caution that the speed with which we enter that market must be measured.”
The applications land while the trading regime is still unsettled. Eskom went to court to review five trading licences Nersa granted to Green Electron Market, CBI Electric Apollo, GreenCo Power Services, Discovery Green and Noa Group Trading, arguing that they let new entrants avoid contributing to subsidies. EXSA’s licence was not among them.
The case was stayed earlier this year to give Nersa room to finalise trading rules, which are still pending. In a joint statement in February, reported by African News Agency, Eskom and the traders said this “does not constitute a withdrawal of the review application but rather a procedural stay”.
The licence hearing runs from 9.30am to 1pm on Microsoft Teams. Anyone wishing to attend or make representations must register by 4.30pm on 30 November via [email protected].
Rules for private grid builders
That afternoon, from 2pm to 5pm, Nersa will hear comment on draft amended cost recovery rules for independent transmission providers (ITPs), the private companies meant to build and own new grid lines. The rules set how they recover their investment. Written comments close on 2 December and can be emailed to [email protected].
The first phase of the ITP programme calls for 1 164km of new lines. On 1 October, national treasury and the department of electricity & energy moved the final request for proposals to the second quarter of 2027, naming Nersa among the bodies working through the remaining commercial, regulatory and financial matters.
Business Leadership South Africa CEO Busi Mavuso warned that “on the current trajectory, the new grid infrastructure is unlikely to be operating by the end of the decade”.
TechCentral has asked Nersa for comment on the applications, the status of its cross-border trading rules and the changes to the ITP rules. – (c) 2026 NewsCentral Media
