Find Electricity and Power expertise in South Africa

Eskom is the primary provider of electricity in South Africa. It generates approximately 95% of South Africa’s electricity and about 45% of Africa’s total capacity (including exports). Traditionally, electricity prices in South Africa have been among the cheapest in the world. Economic diversification and rapid growth, combined with a lack of capital planning for continued infrastructure development, has, however, led to a shortage in generation supply capacity. Load shedding has been one of the implemented strategies to curtail the problem, but this has not been successful enough to stop the decrease in reserve margins, which decreased from 25% in 2002 to 10% in 2008. As a result, electricity prices have increased significantly. This has been a growing concern but the government has made assurances that effective strategies are being put in place to address the issue.