South Africa's Economy
Eskom and Load-Shedding
How South Africa's state electricity company Eskom fell into crisis, causing rolling blackouts, and how this damaged growth before improving in 2024.
Eskom is South Africa’s state-owned power company, supplying most of its electricity.
Load-shedding
- From 2007-08, Eskom couldn’t meet demand and imposed load-shedding: scheduled rolling blackouts.
- 2022 and 2023 saw record levels, with power cuts of many hours a day.
Causes
- Ageing coal plants with poor maintenance.
- Delays and cost overruns at new plants Medupi and Kusile.
- Corruption and mismanagement.
- Debt of hundreds of billions of rand.
Economic costs
- Lost output: the central bank estimated load-shedding cut growth significantly in 2023.
- Businesses bought diesel generators and solar.
- Investment deterred.
Recovery
- Improved maintenance and private renewable energy reduced load-shedding sharply in 2024.
- Rooftop solar installations surged.
- Reforms opened electricity to private generators.
Lesson
State utilities need investment, maintenance and good governance.
The load-shedding app
South Africans used apps to check their area's blackout schedule, planning cooking and work around daily power cuts.
Thinking power cuts only happen in poor countries
Eskom's failures caused severe blackouts in an upper-middle-income country.
Key takeaways
- Eskom supplies most of South Africa's power.
- Load-shedding began in 2007-08 and peaked in 2022-23.
- Ageing plants, corruption and debt caused the crisis.
- Load-shedding fell sharply in 2024.
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