Enerthia Energy works with clients across four connected offerings — Energy Consultancy, Business Development, Product & Service Endorsement, and Funding Origination. This briefing sits where they meet: the rules that will govern how South African businesses buy electricity are being finalised now, and the first phase of competition is aimed squarely at large users.
What changed in the electricity trading rules
On 26 June 2026 the National Energy Regulator of South Africa released Version 3 of its draft Rules for Electricity Trading for public comment. This was a second round of consultation, following objections from Eskom to the first draft published in November 2025. Written comments closed on 27 July. The regulator has said it aims to have the rules gazetted in August.
NERSA describes the revised rules as a comprehensive regulatory architecture designed to enable the phased implementation and operationalisation of bilateral electricity trading arrangements, supporting the transition towards a fully competitive electricity retail market. The stated aims are competitive neutrality, preventing uneconomic bypass of network and policy-related costs, and protecting consumer interests — delivered through mechanisms such as non-bypassable charges, volume restrictions and wheeling arrangements.
How the phasing works
Competition does not arrive all at once. Retail contestability is introduced in phases, starting with large electricity users and eventually expanding to all customers. The latest draft is more detailed and market-focused than its predecessor: direct supply agreements, electricity trading agreements, virtual wheeling, top-up customers and balance responsible parties are now clearly defined, and the treatment of wheeling credits, top-up energy and non-bypassable charges has been expanded.
Analysts at the law firm Bowmans note that the draft now acknowledges large commercial and industrial customers have different needs and capabilities from residential consumers — a shift from earlier drafts that were largely built around consumer protection.
What is still open
Bowmans also flags several points that may concern market participants. Eskom Distribution and municipal distributors do not hold separate trading licences, yet the rules allow them to remain the default retailers through the first two phases; full separation of distribution and trading is deferred to Phase 4, at least six years after the South African Wholesale Electricity Market launches. Licensed traders cannot buy or sell directly in that wholesale market during Phases 1 and 2, and may only apply from Phase 3, which cannot begin until the wholesale market has been operating for at least three years. Virtual wheeling becomes available only once the wholesale market goes live, and only for customers with connections larger than 100 kVA.
The direction of travel is settled. The pace of liberalisation is deliberately cautious.
What it means for you
For large energy users, offtakers and the businesses that supply them, the practical consequence is that the structure you will buy power inside for the next decade is being drawn now, while the market is still being designed. Decisions about load profile, contracting route and wheeling readiness taken today determine which options are actually available when contestability opens. Waiting for the Gazette is not a neutral choice — it narrows the field of what can be arranged in time.
This is the ground Enerthia works across. As an energy consultancy we assess your load profile and the right technical and commercial structure; through business development and product and service endorsement we connect you to trusted delivery partners and technology; and as a funding originator we help structure and source the capital that makes a project bankable. Enerthia originates funding — it does not fund from its own balance sheet, and it is not an EPC contractor. Its role is to line up the right partners around a project so it can be built and financed.
Explore our decks and profiles at enerthiaenergy.co.za/resources.