Efforts to reduce electricity costs for industry

Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has sought to assure high-intensity energy users and manufacturing industry players that plans are at an advanced stage to introduce a dispensation that will cushion the industry from the high costs of electricity.

This, as those in the steel, automotive and manufacturing value chain mount calls for government to extend energy price relief to various industrial sectors, with the country's high electricity prices said to hollow out the industrial base.

Companies have been operating under pressure, with Transalloys, South Africa's last remaining manganese smelter, halting all production at its eMalahleni facility in Mpumalanga, citing years of financial losses caused by high electricity tariffs.

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