The South African Independent Power Producers Association (Saippa) has welcomed the renewal of the short-term power purchase programme (STPPP) contracts, as confirmed by parastatal Eskom and Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown on Wednesday.

The association, led by chairperson Sisa Njikelana, further commended the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) for its role in the renewal, particularly in ensuring the approval of the agreements prior to the March 31 expiry date.

Saippa did, however, express concern over the lack of clarity and apparent disparity between “the supply of 827 MW to the system”, as announced by Brown, compared with the 1 350 MW that was understood to have been approved by Nersa.

“Saippa trusts and hopes this will be clarified quite soon,” it noted in a statement on Thursday.

The organisation further welcomed the support provided Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson and lauded government for regarding the contracts as “essential” amid the country’s tight electricity supply.

“The organisation further assumes and hopes that any liquidity constraints that may beset Eskom are not the reason for the disparity between the 827 MW pronounced by Brown and the 1 350 MW approved by Nersa.

“Notwithstanding that, trust is, however, placed on the government as a whole to address this apparent disparity. Further, Eskom’s ability to recover the costs through a future tariff increase should provide assurance that the outstanding allocation will be shortly addressed as well,” it noted.

Saippa, meanwhile, “cautiously welcomed” the commitment publicly expressed by the power utility that full power from Medupi Unit 6 should be reached by the end of May.