Projects

The project aims to develop analytical capacity to investigate the medium to longer term implications of changes to the underlying sector fundamentals and the threats to Eskom's business model. It also aims to identify gaps in the public discourse relating to the financial aspects of the current Eskom crises and options for reform. ...

Our client was contemplating building their own crude oil loading facility, due to capacity and logistical constraints on the existing facility. They required an understanding of the tariff that NERSA would be likely to approve for use of the facility, if they built it. ...

Under instruction from our client's attorneys we investigated the pricing mechanism utilised by the gas supplier for the claim period and assessed whether it complied with the provisions of the regulatory framework during this period. We further quantified the extent to which the client had been overcharged for gas by calculating the correct price in respect of the GAs Supply Agreement and comparing to the actual price charged. ...

Meridian was requested to calculate an estimate of the tariff that NERSA can be expected to approve for SFF (for charging to third parties) in accordance with NERSA's existing, and proposed new tariff methodologies. ...

Meridian was tasked with developing a financial model of the mine, in conjunction with a mining engineering consultant. The aim of the model was to calculate the price for the Eskom coal that would enable the ongoing viability of the mine under different stochastically generated coal market and macro economic scenarios, and mine production configurations. ...

We created a pricing mechanism using a number of objective, measurable features related to customers' consumption profiles which allowed significant variation in pricing. This mechanism created incentives for customers to improve their efficiency by rewarding customers who use gas in a more consistent manner with lower prices. Creation of the pricing mechanism required use of non-linear mathematical optimisation techniques under multiple constraints in order to satisfy the competing requirements. ...

We built a complex levelised cost model that could calculate tariffs for multiple infrastructure items delivering multiple capacity increases over arbitrary timeframes. We used this model to assist the client with their tariff application strategy and to calculate the final tariff application. We prepared all regulatory submission documents for the client's final review. ...

We created all customer engagement tools to facilitate explanation of the new mechanism to customers. We additionally created modelling tools for long-term budgeting and strategic planning purposes. We wrote the software required to convert hourly consumption logger file data into the metrics required for pricing calculation and the loading of this information into the accounting system. We created a parallel calculation to check the invoicing integrity of the new process. ...

In this high-level study, we analysed the nature of the City's existing network and generation infrastructure and considered the demand-side data that could be obtained from the City. We then evaluated the practical and economic potential for utilising the City's pump storage scheme, open cycle gas turbines, demand response and other innovative load curtailment strategies to avoid loadshedding. ...

We built a financial model of the savings that would be realised by the power utility under various possible operational modes, quantities of gas sold and instantaneous demand requirements. We integrated this model with the clients own financial model to ensure that multiple scenarios could be analysed both from the client's perspective and that of the utility. ...