Four countries that have a minister of electricity

South Africa will soon join these four countries that have a minister of electricity in their respective Cabinets.

Ramaphosa to appoint a minister of electricity

The country went into an uproar, on Thursday evening, when President Cyril Ramaphosa announced, during his State of the Nation Address (SONA 2023), his decision to introduce a minister of electricity in the Presidency as the first step toward responding to South Africa’s energy crisis, which he officially declared a national state of disaster.

Using the overreaching powers of the Disaster Management Act, which was instrumental in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, Ramaphosa vowed to fast-track efforts to permanently put an end to rampant loadshedding.

One of the important steps toward achieving this, the president explained, is the appointment of a minister of electricity with Executive powers to “deal more effectively and urgently with the challenges that confront us.”

“The Minister will focus full-time and work with the Eskom board and management on ending load shedding and ensuring that the Energy Action Plan is implemented without delay,” Ramaphosa announced.

The president made it clear the newly formed ministerial role will not impede on the responsibilities of Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan as the stakeholder representative of Eskom.

No mention was made, however, of what the implications of this role are for Minister of Energy Gwede Mantashe.

Ramaphosa’s trump card received negative reactions from the opposition and the public, for the most part. DA leader John Steenhuisen rubbished the appointment as yet “another crook in the rotten pot.”

“One of the obstacles to us not being energy secure is that you have too many politicians meddling, instead of getting energy experts and industry experts to solve the problem.

“Now you’ve just added another minister who’s not accountable to Parliament because he’s now located in the presidency. You’ve just layered bureaucracy over bureaucracy instead of getting politicians out of the way,” he said.

The minister of electricity has yet to be formally appointed.

These four countries have a minister of electricity

For South Africans, the idea of having three Cabinet portfolios managing the same crisis is almost unheard of, and while that may be an accurate observation, we are not the only country with a minister of electricity.

In fact, in most cases, the ministry of electricity is synonymous with the department of energy in many countries.

The difference in South Africa’s government structure, however, is that the minister of electricity will assume Executive powers, which hold far-reaching levels of influence than a Cabinet portfolio has, such as the Energy and Public Enterprises departments.

While a formal job spec for the new ministerial position has yet to be drafted and published, we took a look at these four countries, which have a minister of electricity.

Bahrain

The Kingdom of Bahrain is located in the Middle East, a relatively small island situated on an archipelago in Western Asia.

Yasser bin Ibrahim Humaidan serves as the country’s minister of electricity and his role involves the management of energy generation and distribution. The minister also oversees Bahrain’s water authority.

Egypt

Mohamed Shaker serves as Egypt’s minister of electricity and renewable energy.

In this role, the minister oversees the management and regulation of the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity in Egypt.

Kuwait

Amani Sulaiman Buqamaz is the minister of electricity, water and renewable energy in Kuwait, a Middle Eastern country situated in Western Asia.

Buqamaz’s role includes:

• Establishment, operation and management of electric power production plants;
• Establishing, operating and managing electric power transmission and distribution networks;
• Establishing, operating and managing water production and desalination plants; and among others,
• Suggesting the state’s general policy with regard to the production and consumption of water, electricity and renewable energy.

New Zealand

While a ministry of electricity no longer exists in present-day New Zealand, the Cabinet portfolio had 11 ministers between 1945 and 1977.

The last minister to serve in the role was George Gair and before the portfolio was abolished in 1978, his role included overseeing the administration of New Zealand’s Electricity Act of 1945 and assuming accountability for the country’s Electricity Department.

The portfolio was deemed redundant in the late 70s and its responsibilities were transferred over to the ministry of energy.

Gair, New Zealand’s last-serving minister of electricity, died from natural causes in 2015. He was 88.