Eskom of South Africa's Death Spiral

  In January 2020 South Africa was once again suffering an electrical power crisis as a series of rolling blackouts, load-shedding, crippled the people and the economy. This was the latest in a series of power crises dating back to 2007. These chronic shortages were the result of failures on the part of the national electrical power producer, Eskom, and its owner, the South African government. The costs to the people of South Africa and the South African economy were enormous. Eskom was now suffering what many termed a death spiral. Its failure to produce sufficient and reliable electricity was causing its financial performance to deteriorate, calling for higher and higher electrical power rates, leading to more and more customers reducing demand and even leaving the grid. Now in the throes of leadership change, corruption investigations, and potential insolvency, it and the country was in trouble. The people of South Africa wondered when their never-ending power crisis – now in its thirteenth year – would end.