The Evolution of Electricity Supply in South Africa

In January 2025, ESKOM, South Africa's electricity monopoly, announced its first round of load-shedding in over ten months. Load shedding basically meaning rolling blackouts to prevent the grid from collapsing. 2024 had been a good year (relatively). Just 83 days of load-shedding. Not too bad after 332 days in 2023, and over 200 days of power cuts in 2022. ESKOM is one of South Africa's biggest companies. It is also arguably its most important. And it is in shambles. In this video, the story of a state-owned electricity monopoly that triggered an energy crisis.

---

Get all episodes of Asianometry, Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, and Dithering as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.

---

Listen to Stratechery.

Listen to Dithering.

Listen to Sharp China.

Listen to Sharp Tech.

Listen to Greatest Of All Talk.