Principal Analyst: Electricity Markets and Regulation at Meridian Economics, Cape Town

Meridian Economics is a boutique energy economics consultancy and think tank at the centre of South Africa's power sector transition. The team of eleven is growing to double its size, and the market is being remade through Eskom's unbundling, the establishment of the South African Wholesale Electricity Market, and a redesign of the tariff and regulatory architecture. As Principal Analyst, you will lead projects from start to finish.

What you will do:

• Lead analytical projects: frame problems, design analysis, build and own models, direct analysts, and present conclusions to clients, funders, regulators, and the public.
• Work across tariff and regulatory economics, wholesale electricity market design and roll out, financial and tariff modelling, and policy and regulatory analysis.
• Produce expert regulatory submissions, policy briefs, financial models, and support for litigation and regulatory proceedings.
• Collaborate with the Head of Advisory Services, Head of Policy and Public Interest, and the Managing Director on the firm's most consequential work.
• Mentor analysts and help build reusable models, methods, and data to deliver bespoke work faster and more consistently.
• Integrate AI tools into your workflow while remaining accountable for your results and able to explain them to others.

• At least a Master's degree in economics, finance, engineering, or a related quantitative discipline.
• A minimum of five to eight years' relevant professional experience, typically in regulatory or economic consulting, a utility or municipality regulatory, tariff or commercial team, an energy regulator, an independent power producer or trader, a bank or infrastructure investor, or an energy policy research organisation.
• Knowledge of South Africa's electricity sector: institutions, tariff structures, regulatory processes, and reform agenda.
• Rigorous quantitative analysis skills, fluent in Excel, and ideally in Python or a comparable language.
• Understanding of cost of supply, cost recovery, incentive regulation, market design, and competition analysis.
• Proven project leadership: leading analytical projects end to end, including scope, team, budget, quality, and delivery, and managing several at once.
• Clear and persuasive communication: writing policy briefs, submissions, and reports, and presenting complex analysis to boards, regulators, and public audiences.
• Independent and critical thinking, able to form views from evidence and adapt when evidence changes.
• AI fluency or determination to become fluent, using AI tools for research, modelling, and writing.
• Constructive teamwork across disciplines with economists, engineers, modellers, and social scientists.

• Lead projects end to end: scoping and proposals, client and funder relationships, plans and budgets, quality of every number and paragraph, and final presentations.
• Perform financial and tariff analysis that others can trust and audit, spotting results that do not look right.
• Conduct regulatory economics and market analysis, including cost of supply, cost recovery, incentive regulation, market design, and competition analysis.
• Engage confidently with traders, IPPs, utilities, regulators, and other stakeholders.
• Direct the work of analysts and mentor them to build capability.
• Build reusable models, methods, and data that improve delivery speed and consistency across the firm.
• Integrate AI tools into your workflow while remaining accountable and able to explain results.
• Present complex analysis clearly to boards, regulators, and public audiences.