Energy Office

About

The eThekwini Energy Office is a branch within the Treasury Cluster and under the Finance, Pensions and Major Projects Unit.

The Energy Office (EO) is responsible for conceptualising and initiating projects in the following areas:

Renewable Energy (RE) (generating energy from renewable sources, such as the sun);
Energy Efficiency (EE) (helping use less energy); and
Climate Change Mitigation (reducing our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions).

Mission

The Energy Office’s mission statement is to transform Durban’s governance, social, development and economic systems in order to effectively mitigate climate change.

Energy Office Team

Energy Office Team Profiles

History of the Energy Office

The eThekwini Municipal Energy Office (EO) was launched in early 2009 in response to the National Power Conservation Program which set energy saving targets between 10% and 15% across all sectors in South Africa. The EO was the first of its kind in South Africa and set a precedent for local government participation in sustainable energy initiatives.

The Energy Office was set up with seed funding from DANIDA through the Urban Environmental Management Program (UEMP). The initial focus of the EO was to reduce electricity consumption in municipal infrastructure. Over the 2009/10 period the EO initiated a number of pilot streetlight retrofit projects and various metering interventions.

Parallel to the establishment of the EO, the eThekwini Municipality drafted a municipal Energy Strategy. The funding for this process was sources through the UEMP. In January 2010, the eThekwini Municipality Council adopted the eThekwini Energy Strategy. This strategy significantly broadened the mandate and responsibility of the EO to promote sustainable energy interventions in the broader eThekwini Municipal area.

Over the 2010-2014 period, the responsibility of the EO grew to include renewable energy and climate change mitigation interventions. In 2014 the EO and Environmental Planning and Climate Protection Department jointly developed the Durban Climate Change Strategy (DCCS). The DCCS further expanded the mandate of the EO to respond directly to the challenge of Climate Change mitigation.