Electricity under a state-owned monopoly will not see SA prosper
Eskom, with centrally controlled oversight and direction, is not serving the country or its electricity requirements — nor will it ever
A market for electricity has a salutary effect on the behaviour of all the participants in the generation and supply of electricity. Generating plants, transmission grids, distribution grids, wholesalers and retailers — all behave differently when they compete for business with alternative suppliers. Eskom, as a state-owned monopoly with centrally controlled oversight and direction, is not the best structure for the supply of electricity, a critical energy source without which no nation can grow and prosper. Much better structures are those that have evolved under competitive circumstances in the EU, US and small, forward-looking countries such as New Zealand. SA will have a robust electric power supply system only once its electricity generation, transmission, distribution and control functions are separated out and independently operated. Security of short- and long-term supplies demand that the government change the current faulty structure. The world’s best electricity-supply sy...
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