The electricity market in the South African economy uses specialised instruments in forecast-ing the energy load to be delivered. The current status quo operates with several forecasters from different offices, departments or businesses predicting for different purposes. This be-comes a challenge to derive a consolidated forecast. This study has attempted to develop a consolidating instrument that will merge all the forecasts from different offices, departments or businesses into one so-called ‘official forecast’. Such an instrument should be able to predict with accuracy the anticipated usage or demand. Article [18] examined patterns across G7 countries and forecasters to establish whether the present bias reflects the inefficient use of information, or whether it reflects a rational re- sponse to financial, reputation and other incentives operating for forecasters. This bias is particularly true for any electricity utility as forecasting is undertaken by different divisions; therefore each division has its own incentives. For instance, the generation division will tend to overstate their forecasts so as that there is no possibility of a shortage, whereas distri- bution (sales) might understate so as to give the impression of being profitable when more units are sold to consumers. Thus, the study attempts to rectify this bias by employing statistical tools in consolidating these forecasts. The results presented in this paper propose a newly developed procedure of consolidating energy demand forecasts from different users and accounting for different time horizons. Predicting for the short-term and long-term involves different measuring tools, which is one aspect of prediction this paper tackles.

Worldwide energy consumption is estimated to double between 2008 and 2035. Over-dependence on energy imports from a few, often politically unstable countries, and unpredictable oil and gas prices, pushes energy to a critical agenda. While there is an agreement that we need to change the production and consumption of energy, there is still disagreement about the specific changes that are needed and how they can be achieved. The conventional energy plans relying primarily on fossil fuels and nuclear technologies, which are in need of transformation due to limited resources and carbon dioxide emissions. Energy efficiency improvements and renewable energy should play a leading role in the America's energy future. Energy and environmental organizations believe that renewable energy and energy efficiency can meet half of the world's energy needs by 2050. This thesis describes a model that predicts renewable energy portfolios for the Southern portion of the United States, by evaluating multiple renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hydropower, biomass, and geothermal. The Southern US is divided into three regions: Southwest, South Central, and Southeast, which are chosen given their location and the level of abundance of renewable resources, thereby minimizing inefficiencies and losses associated to the present generation system. A mathematical predictor takes into account variables such as supply/demand, non-renewable/renewable sources, and time. From the results, the Southwest and South Central regions confirm an surplus of renewable electricity by 2050, but the Southeast region does not have enough renewable resources to detach itself from the use of fossil fuels. The South Central region begins producing a surplus of renewable energy in 2014 and reaches an excess amount of 14,552 billion KWh by 2050. This means there will be no need to transfer electricity over long distances, which will increase the overall efficiency of electrical generation.