South Africa's tariff environment has made energy cost reduction a board-level priority. For a mid-size private manufacturer in the Western Cape spending approximately R18 million per year on electricity, the question is not whether to act, but how to structure a deal that will survive a five-year horizon without introducing new operational risk.
This is how that deal would work.
The Starting Point
The company manufactures industrial components and operates a single large facility. The business runs three shifts and carries a load profile that peaks during morning and afternoon hours, with significant off-peak consumption overnight.
The managing director has explored rooftop solar installations but concluded that on-site capacity would only offset a fraction of the facility's total consumption. A partial solution is not adequate. The business needs a deal that addresses the full load.
The Problem
Rising Eskom tariffs are compounding cost pressure at every budget cycle. With NERSA confirming an 8.76% Eskom tariff increase from 1 April 2026, and a court-ordered recalculation of Eskom's R76 billion asset base potentially pushing the effective increase closer to 10.5%, the CFO models a five-year electricity bill that grows from R18 million to over R27 million annually if nothing changes.
The company has received several proposals from energy brokers. Each proposal comes from a single provider. Each broker has a commercial incentive tied to their specific private generation source. The business has no independent view of what the market can actually provide, and no basis for comparison between offers.
The risk is not that any individual offer is dishonest. The risk is structural: a company spending R18 million per year on electricity is being asked to make a five-year commitment on the basis of a single quote.
OAE's Role: Market Representative
Open Access Energy is engaged as market representative. The mandate is straightforward: analyse 12 months of utility bills in time-of-use format, model the full load profile against available private generation supply in the Western Cape, and present the best structure the market can offer.
OAE does not represent a single private seller. OAE represents the entire market. Multiple private generation sources, traders, and commercial structures are evaluated against the company's actual consumption data. The outcome is the best available deal for the buyer, not the deal that fits a particular seller's book.
Energypro's Role: Operational Infrastructure
Energypro is the platform that makes the analysis and ongoing management possible. It maps the company's load profile against multiple private generation profiles and models both bilateral and multilateral wheeling structures across different tariff scenarios.
Three viable options emerge:
Option 1: A bilateral wheeling arrangement with a single large private solar generator. Fixed tariff for five years. Highest certainty, lower long-term price performance.
Option 2: A multilateral arrangement splitting supply between two private sellers. CPI-linked escalation on each. Slightly higher structural complexity, better five-year cost outcome.
Option 3 (Selected): A hybrid structure: 60% wheeled PPA from private generation, 40% continued Eskom supply for peak periods not fully covered by the renewable generation profile.
The company selects the hybrid multilateral structure. The 60/40 split reflects the reality that most corporate load profiles have periods where grid supply remains the most practical option, while the majority of consumption can be served at a significant discount through private generation.
COD is reached six months after the initial mandate. From that point, Energypro manages the full operational lifecycle: billing reconciliation across both private generation supply legs, tariff validation against Eskom and municipal schedules, and portfolio rebalancing as generation profiles shift.
The Result
In the first full year, the company's blended energy cost per unit would be approximately 28% lower than the Eskom-only baseline. Over five years, the saving represents approximately R21 million compared to full reliance on Eskom tariffs, assuming average annual escalation of 8.76%.
Operationally, the transition requires no changes to internal infrastructure. Settlement and reconciliation are handled entirely by Energypro as a managed service.
The financial saving is significant, but certainty has its own value. Knowing your energy cost trajectory for the next five years changes how you approach capital planning.
What Makes This Deal Work
Independent market access
OAE compares the full market, not a single offering.
Structure matched to load profile
The 60/40 split is chosen because the company's consumption profile does not require 100% private supply to achieve material savings.
Operational infrastructure from day one
Billing reconciliation, tariff validation, and portfolio management are built into the deal structure through Energypro, not added later.