President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed plans to create an independent power-transmission entity, addressing concerns over reports that the government was altering its approach, Bloomberg reported. The company will own and control transmission assets and manage operations within the electricity market.

Ramaphosa, speaking in his state-of-the-nation address in Cape Town, said the initiative forms part of a broader restructuring of state-owned power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. He added that a task team under the national energy-crisis committee has been launched to oversee the process, including setting clear timelines for phased implementation.

In December, Eskom issued a statement noting that Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa had approved a “revised unbundling strategy.” Under this plan, the utility would still split into distribution, generation, renewable energy, and transmission units, all remaining under a single holding company, with ownership of the grid retained by Eskom rather than transferred to an independent operator.

The revised approach departs from Ramaphosa’s 2019 proposal to separate Eskom into three standalone companies, intended to foster a more competitive electricity market and simplify debt and division management. Analysts have expressed concern that the new strategy could complicate the implementation of the multi-billion-dollar Just Energy Transition Partnership, a program supported by European nations to help South Africa reduce coal dependency.