Consider South Africa’s failed state power utility, Eskom, whose CEO André de Ruyter was treated for cyanide poisoning after drinking coffee in his office. South Africa used to have a well-functioning energy sector, the envy of Africa, but Eskom’s poor performance is now a problem for all the country’s residents and the South African economy. One solution is to auction off power plants to private companies and allow them to compete to offer power. Auctioning off power plants needs political support, which is not coming. Putting the entire country on Stage 2—reducing power by 2,000 megawatts, 6 times over a four-day period for 2-hour stints—would enable power plants to be repaired.

Source: Forbes January 13, 2023 17:56 UTC