THE NTCSA: A New Grid Chapter
Leading the NTCSA through an exciting but challenging period is the task for industry veteran and CEO Monde Bala. “We are a very fortunate generation,” he tells Enterprise Africa, “as we have been given a task of ushering in a whole new era for the energy landscape in the country. That is our blessing and we need to embrace it.”
Exclusive Interview with Monde Bala, CEO
South Africa’s power landscape is in transition. For decades, Eskom’s vertically integrated model dominated generation, transmission and distribution, but reform has reshaped that narrative. At the heart of the transformation is the National Transmission Company South Africa (the NTCSA), the business unit now emerging from the unbundling of Eskom’s transmission arm. This freshly established national transmission company carries significant responsibility: it must keep the grid stable and reliable today while laying the foundations for a more competitive, accessible and future‑proof energy market tomorrow.
Steering this ambitious evolution is Monde Bala, who took up the helm as the NTCSA’s Chief Executive Officer in October 2025. “I started on Oct 1 as the official, full time CEO. Previously, I was interim CEO while the recruitment process took place since August,” Bala tells Enterprise Africa. “Since then, I have been heavily immersed in the job of trying to get the NTCSA focused on key issues around major changes taking place given the Electricity Regulation Amendment Act which came into effect on 1 January 2025, through which the NTCSA is supposed to take the role of transmission system operator.”
These changes stem from the country’s need for a more secure, competitive, and regulated market, which compels the unbundling of the transmission system into a stand-alone Transmission System Operator (TSO) within five years of the law’s commencement. The NTCSA is currently acting as the interim TSO, delivering its duties while progressing toward full operational independence under the new regulatory framework. “I have been given the assignment of steering the organisation through these changes because, while all of this is happening, the business of keeping the lights on and the grid stable and reliable continues,” Bala says.
The task is momentous. Not only must the organisation manage everyday grid operations, but it also has to transform itself structurally and culturally, preparing systems, staff and stakeholders for a new era of energy sector dynamics.
BUILDING FOUNDATIONS
The NTCSA’s focus in this formative period has been on laying foundations that will endure beyond the unbundling timeline. One such milestone is the receipt of a Market Operator licence from the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA), a permit that marks a critical regulatory benchmark. Under the Electricity Regulation Amendment Act, the market operator will administer a transparent and non‑discriminatory platform for power trading, fostering a competitive electricity market.
“The first big task is to prepare the organisation for what lies ahead. We need to move from being the NTCSA, a morph of the old transmission company, to being a transmission system operator and that is a really big task. With that comes the Market Operator License, which has been granted,” Bala says. “We made an application to NERSA and we are happy that the license has been granted and we await the records of decision from the regulator. Within that, we will understand the conditions linked to the issuing of that license. We can then put systems in place to adhere to those conditions.”
This licence — now in hand — authorises the NTCSA to operate and administer the country’s emerging electricity market. It is a signal to investors, developers and market participants that South Africa is serious about a rules‑based transition that encourages wider participation and clearer market functioning.
Yet the regulatory journey is not complete. There are next steps in the process that are equally important. “The next phase is sorting out the market code — that is a regulatory process with its own timelines. With that, you also need the market rules, and you have to set up the systems and the platform that will run the market operator business,” reiterates Bala.
The Electricity Regulation Amendment Act envisages a separation of roles that was previously concentrated within Eskom: the System Operator, the Transmitter and the Market Operator. The Act clarifies the responsibilities of each function, with the Market Operator specifically tasked with providing a non‑discriminatory trading platform for market participants.
GRID BOTTLENECKS AND EXPANSION
Underlying all regulatory and market reform efforts is the imperative of grid stability and expansion. South Africa’s grid has long been cited as a constraint on renewable energy deployment. Planners estimate that about 14,000 km of new high‑voltage transmission lines and significant transformer capacity will be needed over the next decade to accommodate new capacity and to relieve congestion on existing corridors.
“We have to ensure the grid is stable,” insists Bala. “With things as they are, people are not waiting for us and they are busy connecting themselves. Some are connecting on behind the meter connections, some through the IPP Programme — sometimes private sector or sometimes through Section 34 — and we need to make sure the grid is available, accessible, and reliable.”
South Africa’s renewable rollout has been impressive in recent years, but connection delays and grid bottlenecks have underlined the urgency of transmission expansion. According to a national assessment, the country has actually outgrown its current grid capacity, with developers ready to connect far more renewable capacity than the grid can currently accommodate.
For the NTCSA, this means marrying long‑term infrastructure scale‑up with day‑to‑day operational reliability. “We need to ensure we expand the grid. It has been highlighted as the bottleneck when it comes to unleashing renewable energy connections. We need to accelerate that expansion to accommodate some of the existing connections that we cannot connect because of congestion. We also need to connect the additional generation that is coming,” Bala explains.
On top of grid capacity, reducing connection timelines remains a priority, as does harmonising service levels across the country’s various grid access units. “Previously we did face misaligned timing, and we had to revise the approach to the IPP bid window system and we put in place the Interim Grid Capacity Location Rules. Now, we are looking at around six months to get grid allocation and grid connection.”
INDUSTRIAL SCALE AND OPPORTUNITY
The NTCSA’s plans envision a massive build programme that will stretch across the country. “In the next 10 years, we need to build high voltage and ultra-high voltage overhead powerlines crossing the entire country,” Bala says. “The main part of this expansion will take place across the Western and Northern Cape corridor, going up to North West. People will see a lot more brand new infrastructure when they look up and that will be our conductors that are integrating the additional capacity that the country is creating.”
Dozens of substations are also required to handle increased transformer capacity. “Additionally, we will also need to build substations to connect the transformer capacity – 133 000 mpa. It’s a massive build programme that we will undertake on behalf of the country over the next 10 years, and we see it as a massive opportunity to bring in industrialisation that the country requires.”
The industrial opportunity extends into the supply chain. A build of this scale requires vast quantities of steel, galvanising, fabrication and construction resources. “14,000 km of cable requires massive amounts of steel. Steel fabrication, galvanising, transportation etc will mean the country will see a construction site of sorts for the next decade, and we will drive that programme for the country.”
The NTCSA’s model brings most development work in‑house, with contracting partners brought in for execution. “We have an army of contractors, and we handle most of the development work internally. When the development work is done, we engage the supply chain and source commodities, construction partners etc. It’s a full value chain, and we have contracting partners that are South Africa‑based.”
REGIONAL INTEGRATION
While the company’s primary mandate is national, the NTCSA recognises the strategic value of regional interconnection. South Africa is an active participant in the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), with existing interconnectors to neighbouring countries. “The NTCSA has regional interconnectors and we are part of the SAPP where we play an active role,” Bala says. “We connect to most of our neighbours and we remain the major source of electricity in the region.”
The potential for expanded regional power trading is significant: as load centres and generation resources evolve across southern Africa, interconnectors can facilitate bidirectional flows to support reliability and optimise capacity utilisation. “If we can have a significant regional network, when one country has an issue, we can support that country through our regional interconnectors – that is a strong aspiration.”
In a continent where nearly two‑thirds of the population still lacks reliable electricity access, expanded regional networks could be transformative. “In Africa, there are still 660 million people without electricity,” Bala highlights. “Within the South African context, we are sitting around 95% universal access, but that number changes drastically the further you get from the South African border. It is through our interconnectors that we can improve and change that situation, and we can unlock the continent’s outlook, linking into central Africa where the mining potential is significant.”
FUTURE READY
Digitisation forms another cornerstone of the NTCSA’s vision for a resilient grid. With increasing penetration of variable renewable energy and more complex system dynamics, advanced tools are needed to monitor and operate the network efficiently. “Our ambitions are driven by technology. Management of the system alone will see us battle if we are using our traditional tools given the intermittency of some of the renewable generation systems. AI will be a strategic lever that we will need to pull,” Bala says.
A fully digitised grid — with automated substations, real‑time monitoring and predictive analytics — is not an afterthought, but a foundational element of future operations. “We need a digitised workforce to be able to work smarter. We need a lot more census around our power lines, so that we know about problems before we have challenging circumstances.”
Recognising internal capacity limitations, the company plans to source specialised skills externally where needed. “We have limited capacity internally and so we will source that externally.”
NEW ERA
The NTCSA is on a complex but purposeful journey: from a restructured transmission division to an independent driver of South Africa’s energy market transformation. With leadership grounded in operational continuity and forward‑looking reform, the company is laying the groundwork for an accessible, competitive and resilient grid.
“It’s a wonderful evolution in the energy landscape,” Bala says. “South Africa started this journey in 2010 when we began with the Independent Power Producer Programme. We have learnt lessons over time, and this is a natural progression in that. Now, the TSO needs to give indiscriminate access to the grid for anyone that wants to connect. It’s an exciting journey, and we need to bring in all of the generation resources that we can to see the country never looking back to loadshedding.”
For South Africa, and for a region hungry for reliable power, the NTCSA’s role extends beyond infrastructure. It represents a shift in ethos: from controlled monopoly to competitive platform, from constrained grid to connected future, and from uncertain reform to strategic investment in energy security that underpins long‑term growth.