Energy Lessons from South Africa

What do you do when you flip the light switch and nothing happens? You call the electric company and complain. But what do you do if the electric company tells you, “We have run out of electricity”?

That is more or less what has happened in South Africa, which, despite the reputation of the continent it is part of, is anything but an undeveloped society. SA is a technologically advanced nation, which is one of the reasons it is in an energy fix of massive proportions. Its economy has grown much faster than its electricity- generating capacity.


The service interruptions that have resulted from this range from the laughable to the lamentable. In the laughable category is this South African newspaper report:

South African cricket captain Graeme Smith said on Thursday that he hoped the Western Province Cricket Association had made arrangements to ensure that…power cuts did not affect the second one-day international against the West Indies at Newlands on Friday. “I got back from cricket training last night and couldn’t get into my house,” he laughed. “I only had a garage clicker, not a front door key, so I had to go to my neighbour until the power came back on.” Smith said he now kept a front door key in his car.

The Nation