KEY POINTS
- Eskom has awarded Enerweb a contract to build a digital platform to automate and scale its virtual wheeling model.
- The move advances private power trading but comes amid unresolved regulatory disputes over electricity trading rules.
- Finalisation of Nersa’s trading framework in early 2026 is expected to determine how quickly virtual wheeling can expand.
Eskom has quietly taken a decisive step toward reshaping South Africa’s electricity market, awarding a contract to Johannesburg-based Enerweb to develop a digital platform that will underpin its long-anticipated virtual wheeling framework.
The move signals growing urgency within the utility to operationalise a system seen as critical to expanding private power trading, even as regulatory uncertainty continues to cloud the sector.
The contract, concluded in recent weeks, is the most concrete advance yet in Eskom’s effort to scale virtual wheeling beyond pilot projects.
The model is designed to allow electricity generated by independent power producers to be allocated virtually to customers anywhere on the national grid, including those embedded within municipal distribution networks, without requiring a direct physical flow of power from source to user.
Eskom has long argued that without a fully automated platform, virtual wheeling cannot be expanded to the volumes anticipated as renewable generation accelerates. The Enerweb system is expected to handle complex settlement processes, consolidate generation and consumption data, automate wheeling credits and integrate directly with Eskom’s billing systems.
A platform for a changing power market
Virtual wheeling marks a departure from traditional wheeling arrangements, which have largely been limited to bilateral contracts between large generators and energy-intensive industrial users connected directly to Eskom’s grid. Under the new approach, smaller commercial customers, manufacturers and corporates could procure renewable electricity from multiple generators under shorter-term contracts, even when located within municipal supply areas.
Eskom expects the Enerweb platform to serve as the digital backbone of this transition. It is being designed to process interval-based and time-of-use metering data from National Rationalised Specification-compliant meters, maintain auditable transaction records and provide a user-facing portal for customers and generators.
The system is also being built with future market participants in mind. While Eskom’s current rules exclude electricity traders from virtual wheeling, Enerweb’s architecture will allow traders to be integrated once the regulatory environment permits. This is widely seen as essential, given that much of the expected growth in private power procurement is likely to be intermediated by trading firms rather than through direct generator-to-customer contracts.
Eskom’s push has not been without controversy. Virtual wheeling was launched commercially for low-voltage customers in early 2025, with Vodacom becoming the first large-scale user by offsetting its national electricity footprint using renewable power from multiple independent producers.
However, traders and medium-voltage customers were excluded from the scheme pending the finalisation of electricity trading rules by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa. Eskom has argued that allowing traders to operate without a clear regulatory framework would expose the system to settlement risks and legal uncertainty.
That stance has put the utility at odds with parts of the industry. Eskom challenged several electricity trading licences issued by Nersa in court, arguing that the regulator acted prematurely. The legal dispute has slowed momentum in one of the most dynamic segments of South Africa’s private power market and drawn criticism from stakeholders who accuse Eskom of entrenching its dominant position.
