Electricity Industry Perspectives on the Existential Challenge of Rising Prices

The South African electricity industryIndustry is among the most studied and politicised of all network industriesNetwork industries, both for its foundational importance to the economy and for the multiple crises that have afflicted it over the last two decades. Since the onset of rotational load sheddingLoad-shedding in 2008, which heightened as the economy was recovering from the Covid-19Covid-19 pandemic, the industry has been under the constant scrutiny of the public, investorsInvestors, courts, and regulatory bodies. What was once considered a model for universal access expansion has become emblematic of the tensions, contradictions, and limitations of the post-apartheid political economyPolitical economy. In the words of one senior participant, “EskomEskom has gone from being the pride of the public sector to the country’s greatest economic risk.” This chapter takes the discussion forward by exploring how politically informed decisions have influenced the performance of the industry, leading to the near-collapse of Eskom, which had to rely on government bailouts while its cost of production continue to soar.