Unlocking Africa’s Energy Future Through Smarter Trading

Unpacking Energypro: The Toolkit Every IPP and Trader Needs  By Gerjo Hoffman, CEO of Open Access Energy

The need for reliable, affordable power in South Africa has never been greater. Sellers (Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and traders) sit at the center of this challenge, yet they face a marketplace that is fragmented, complex, and often hard to navigate. To build a stronger energy future, we need solutions that simplify the process, reduce risk, and open the door to more transparent trading.

Too often, IPPs spend weeks preparing proposals and cost estimates, while buyers struggle to compare offers that don’t align. The result? Missed opportunities, stalled projects, and an erosion of trust in the market.

What is Energypro?

In simple terms, Energypro is a software suite designed to make energy trading easier, smarter, and faster.  It provides a single space where sellers can build professional, comparable proposals quickly and efficiently, manage energy flows, and execute transactions with confidence. At its core, Energypro streamlines the allocation of energy across the grid, ensuring supply and demand are matched accurately and transparently, while offering full visibility into performance and settlement.

How does it work?

Consider a mining company weighing two very different offers, each with its own contract length, structure, and level of risk. On the surface, these numbers are hard to compare, and the risk of choosing wrong is high. Energypro simplifies this by standardising the proposals, running the numbers against the mine’s actual consumption profile, and showing the true cost and risk implications, within minutes rather than weeks.

Why is it needed now more than ever?

South Africa’s energy market has long reached a turning point. Demand for energy has always been great, grid instability persists, and more private producers are entering the market at pace. Without the right systems, buyers risk signing unfavourable deals, while suppliers face costly delays. By introducing transparency and trust, Energypro accelerates new projects, reduces risk, and expands access to affordable, reliable power.

Why this matters

South Africa’s energy future depends on giving sellers the tools to demonstrate value with speed and accuracy. Energypro is not just another digital platform, it’s designed to make it easier for sellers to quantify and present the long-term value of their energy offers clearly and confidently. By simplifying proposals, improving comparison accuracy, and streamlining transactions, it enables faster decisions and stronger relationships between sellers and buyers.

At Open Access Energy, our belief is simple: the industry doesn’t need more complexity, it needs clarity, simplicity, and accuracy. Every deal should be transparent and based on correctly applied tariffs that reflect true costs and value. That’s what we’re working to deliver: a smarter, more reliable way to bring buyers and sellers together, one deal at a time.