#PowerFutures: Fuelling discussion about South Africa’s energy transition
Energy is central to economic development, growth, and the achievement of the SDGs. And yet in South Africa, our energy sector operates on an old model that is holding the country back. Ahead of the 2019 State of the Nation Address, a new conversation was needed to fuel discussion and mobilise support for bold reform.
Working with a brand new account, called Power Futures SA, we were tasked with raising the level of discussion about the urgent need for reform ahead of Davos, the ANC NEC meeting, and ultimately the 2019 State of the Nation Address.
We love a challenge, and what made this campaign remarkable was that we were given one week from briefing to build the brand, define the messaging, gather the community, and get our content in-front of the key decision-makers at these events.
Kickstarting the Conversation with Video
Articles about Eskom are written every day in the media, so to get noticed and join the public conversation on this important topic we launched with a video entitled “South Africa’s Democratic Energy Transition”. This video was scripted for a very specific audience of senior policy-makers in government and at Eskom, who we ensured saw it via chat groups and direct messages on WhatsApp.
To launch the video we worked with UCT Graduate School of Business to pull together a panel of leading commentators on South Africa’s energy future. We also created a social media toolkit with talking points* which we sent directly to event participants and influential social media users.
The result was 25 000 views of the video on launch day with more than 10 separate pieces of media coverage, including the most read article of the week on Fin24 “Eskom: Breaking up is hard to do, but it may be necessary - experts”.
The stage was set, and the PowerFutures team were well positioned for ongoing engagement on the unbundling of Eskom and ensuring a “just transition” for South Africa’s energy sector.
Changing the Narrative
In a field as complex as energy there are multiple stakeholder groups, with competing perspectives on the issue of unbundling of the national energy utility. A common metaphor was needed to frame the issue and inform how it was discussed.
Our expert client likened it to having “all our eggs in one basket” - in other words, we need to diversify the risk of having a centralised power utility without any backup plan. This was the key line that we used to pitch and place a powerful op-ed, developed with Jasandra Nyker - a highly respected and influential voice in renewables. The piece, entitled ”All the eggs are in Eskom’s basket: It is time to diversify the energy sector “, was agenda setting both in terms of the content quality, the timing, and who penned it.
Within days key politicians and leaders were using the metaphor: “all our eggs are in Eskom’s basket, if it drops our economy breaks.” This powerfully framed the situation, made it easy to understand, and paved the way for the decision to unbundle the power utility.
All our eggs in Eskom’s basket
This helped inform more targeted discussion about the “unbundling” of Eskom, in other words - to remove all our eggs from one basket. And within a month of the campaign Eskom announced plans to break up into three entities, paving the way for more sustainable power generation and hopefully an end to load-shedding.
UPDATE
While the announcement happened quickly, Eskom’s cogs turn a lot more slowly. A Daily Maverick exclusive in October 2022 announced that the ailing power utility is “moving full steam ahead” with unbundling into Transmission, Generation and Distribution divisions.
*Talking Points
The South African government aims to reduce coal’s share of total capacity from almost 80% in 2017 to 46% by 2030. The government also announced new plans to quadruple renewable energy’s share of capacity to 36% in 2030.
South Africa has one of the highest per capita emissions ratings in the developing world, accounting for more than 40% of Africa’s total coal-derived CO2 emissions.
Among the G20‚ South Africa’s thermal coal use is the highest and its use of renewable energy is the second-lowest.
In 2008, Eskom held an A1 investment grade credit rating. Last year, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s maintained Eskom’s rating at CCC+. Several levels deep into junk territory (and with a negative outlook).
Power Futures is an initiative of UCT Graduate School of Business